Mfon Udoh scored a hat-trick as Enyimba Football Club of Aba beat visitors Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia 3-0 in the first leg of their last 16 African Champions League tie on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday DR Congo’s AS Vita Club beat visiting Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 of South Africa
The overall winners of the tie will progress to the group stages while the losers will get a second chance in the Confederation Cup.
Udoh scored his first goal after nine minutes and then added a second for the Peoples Elephant after the break and completed his hat-trick with a powerful shot just before the end of the match.
It means Udoh is now the top scorer in the tournament with seven goals so far.
Etoile played the last 19 minutes of the match with 10 men after Ghazi Abderazek was given a second yellow card for dissent and was sent off.
The tie is a repeat of the 2004 final that Enyimba eventually won on penalties after both legs had finished 2-1 to the home team.
Uganda goalkeeper Dennis Onyango had kept Sundowns in the game in Kinshasa with some fine saves as Vita Club’s Ghanaian star Bernard Morrison proved a handful.
The only goal of the game was scored in injury time at the end of the game as Morrison was once again given too much time and while his shot was well saved by Onyango his parry fell to Kule Mbombo, who scored.
