TP Mazembe (Photo: the club's official website)
Four-time winners Mazembe threw away a two-goal advantage to settle for an exciting 2-2 draw away to Stade Malien while Sudan's Merreikh claimed a 1-0 home victory over Tunisia's Esperance in the first leg of the African Champions League on Saturday.
Mazembe looked to be cruising to a superb away win when Cheibane Traore opened the scoring after 27 minutes before Nii Adjei doubled their advantage six minutes after the restart.
However, Ismael kone scored two goals in quick succession on 74 and 76 minutes to keep alive Stade Malien's hopes of reaching the group stage although DR Congo's Mazembe will be favourites to advance when they host them in Lubumbashi in a fortnight.
In Sudan, Merreikh secured a narrow 1-0 win over Esperance, thanks to a 24th-minute penalty from Alaa Eldin Yousif.
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
Short link: