 Carthage Eagles star Jawhar Mnari wrapped up the scoring |
Tunisian champions Esperance thrashed Jeanne d'Arc of Senegal 5-0 to confirm their pole position in Group B of the Champions League.
Once again, striker Ali Zitouni was a key figure for the Tunisian side, grabbing a brace for the second Champions League tie in succession.
Zitouni scored both Esperance's goals when the Tunisians beat South African side SuperSport United 2-1 in their opening Group B game.
On Saturday, the 23-year-old opened the scoring once again with a goal in the 29th minute.
Two minutes later, the home side doubled its advantage as midfielder Skander Souayah found the back of the Senegalese net.
Just after the hourmark, Zitouni struck his second of the game to delight the 20,000 watching fans in Sfax as well as take his Champions League tally this season to five.
Tunis-based Esperance were playing in Sfax, a town in the south-east, because they had to fulfil a home fixture there because of crowd trouble during last year's semi-final loss to Ismaili of Egypt.
Yet the 'Blood and Golds' wrapped up the points and a crushing victory when Ben Abdellah scored a fourth in the 78th minute, before Tunisia midfielder Jawhar Mnari completed the scoring just four minutes from time.
The victory is Esperance's best of their Champions League campaign, eclipsing their 4-0 destruction of Sahel of Niger in the first round.
Esperance lead Group B on six points, three clear of both USMA of Algeria and Jeanne d'Arc while SuperSport are pointless at the bottom.
On Friday, USMA beat SuperSport 2-1 in Algiers in the weekend's other Group B fixture.
In the next round of fixtures, SuperSport entertain Jeanne d'Arc in Pretoria on 7 August while USMA travel to Esperance for a North African derby the following day.
MMIX
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