Ghana Premier League champions Biniani GoldStars have kicked off their first ever TotalEnergies CAF Champions League campaign on a rather disappointing note after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Jeunes Sportive Kabylie in the first leg encounter at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.
The Ghanaian side struggled to impose themselves in large parts of the game as their Algerian opponents controlled and dominated possession to earn a comfortable 2-0 victory in the preliminary round first-leg tie away from home.
Coach Frimpong Manso who steered GoldStars to their maiden Ghana Premiership title last season admitted his side will face an uphill task in the return encounter but remained optimistic about their chances.
“No it’s not over yet, now we’ve lost the first leg, yes. Next week we go to [Algerian for] the second leg. “Yes, it’s a tall order, but we’ll see if we’re able to correct most of the mistakes we made, I think we’ll do well in the second leg,” he told reporters.
GoldStars were condemned by two goals from each half courtesy of Medhi Merghem and Babacar Sarr in the 21st and 70th minutes respectively as JS Kabylie’s crossed the finishing line comfortably ahead of the reverse fixture in Algeria next week.
The tie will determine who progresses to the second preliminary round, where the winner faces either Tunisia’s US Monastir or East End Lions of Sierra Leone.