The runners-up from Ghana last season huffed puffed against Etoile Filante from Burkina Faso but could not find the goals they needed to set up a meeting against ASEC Mimosa in the next round after only managing a 3-2 win.
The result meant the Lions’ first experience of African club football ended after a 3-4 aggregate loss.
It should not have been, given how much they dominated the second leg and the opportunities they created. As early as the 10th minute, they missed a penalty before going on to create countless opportunities in the first forty-five minutes of the game.
The second half was livelier than the first and produced more thrills and more woeful finishing by Lions. But it also produced five goals. The Burkina Faso side scored first on 56 minutes when Georges Bonou’s cracking volley from the edge of the penalty box found the left corner of Steve Akorli’s goal.
That lead lasted for just four minutes after substitute Stephen Owusu got on the end of a fine pass from Edmund Owusu Ansah to finish coolly.
Lions then failed to make the most of level terms, allowing Filante to come back thanks to some comical defending by Godfred Rockson. He lost the ball under no pressure before Eric Soulama scored cool on 63 minutes.
Hans Coffie equalised again for Lions five minutes later, before Stephen Owusu got his second goal in 78 minutes.
Lions then needed two goals, but that proved too much for a side experiencing African club football for the first time in their history.
Their coach Paa Kwesi Fabian admitted inexperience had cost them, but said finishing had been their biggest problem. “We shot ourselves in the foot today,” he told KickOffGhana.com. “This was a game we should have won without any problems.”
