African stars are not only shining on the continent but all over the world too, and one Moroccan individual rose as a giant among them with his performance on the weekend.
Saifeddine Bouhra proved the star of the show when his side Wydad Casablanca took on Tanzania's Simba SC in a CAF Champions League group stage encounter on Saturday, he helped his club secure a much-needed three points to reignite their hopes of potentially progressing to the next round of the competition.
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Heading into the game, the Moroccan giants were far from the form they would have liked to be in after making a dismal start to their 2023/24 CAFCL campaign.
They started off on the wrong foot, losing to Botswana-based side Jwaneng Galaxy by a goal to nil in their first outing, while their second attempt at trying to pick up three points did not go as planned either as Wydad suffered another 1-0 loss, this time to Ivory Coast's ASEC Mimosas.
It goes without saying that Adil Ramzi's charges needed three points from their clash against Simba, and Bouhra proved a big help to the club as they secured their first CAFCL win of the campaign. The 1-0 victory over Simba victory put them in third place in Group B, one point behind Jwaneng Galaxy and four points behind the Ivorian side who is yet to taste defeat on the continental stage this season and subsequently top the group.
Bouhra put in an exemplary display on the left side of the three-time CAFCL winners' attack, and was the brightest spark in a frontline that struggled to breach Simba shot-stopper Ayoub Lakred goal for most of the game. The breakthrough, however, eventually came late on when the winger's free-kick from the right-hand side floated over the heads of the Tanzanian side's defenders to find the feet of Algerian midfielder Zakaria Draoui, who brought the ball down with his right foot and shifted it on to his left before beating Lakred from close range, slotting the ball through the keeper's legs to find the back of the net and secure victory for his side in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The assist was not the only thing Bouhra managed to contribute to the game, though. A few minutes before the half-time break, the left winger had the ball out wide and made his way into the penalty box with some silky dribbling before he was brought down by a reckless challenge from Simba's Kibu Denis. A penalty was awarded but Wydad captain Yahya Jabrane was unable to convert the opportunity.
Overall, Bouhra can be pleased when reflecting on his performance. Besides assisting the winning goal and winning a spot-kick, he also had a successful pass rate of 72% with three passes made in the final third, 58 touches in total, of which two were in the opposition box, and two out of four successful dribbles, according to FotMob.
He also created four chances throughout the game and proved a figure Simba struggled to contain, which was perhaps evident by the fact that he was fouled eight times during the 90 minutes.
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The Red Castle will now turn their attention back to their domestic league, where they will face Union Touarga Sportif on Monday night as they look to climb from their current sixth position on the Botola Pro 1 table.
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