Uganda Cranes striker Muhammad Shaban’s Al Hilal, Benghazi narrowly missed out on a slot in the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup.
The Libyan side defeated the Egyptian outfit Al Masry 3-2 in the first leg of the second round of the preliminaries at the Martyrs of February Stadium in Benina last week.
Al Hilal carried a slim advantage into the second leg played in Egypt on Sunday but could not hold on to it.
Al Masry defeated them by the same score 3-2 at Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria to force extra time before they won it in the post match penalties.
Yahya Al-Zlitni gave the visitors hope when he broke the deadlock in the 14th minute.
However, their lead was short lived by Salah Mohsen’s equaliser in the 18th minute.
Mohsen completed his brace in the 39th minute for the hosts take a 2-1 lead at the break.
Ben Youssef stretched Al Masry’s lead to 3-1 in the 84th minute but Al Hilal were not about to give up.
Al-Zlitni completed his double in the 90th and 3-2 it ended in favour of the Egyptians at fulltime.
A 3-2 victory for Al Masry ensured that the two teams were level on a 5-5 aggregate score and extra time was the next option to determine the winner.
Extra time could not separate the two teams and it needed post match penalties to be untied and it is Al Masry that advanced to the group stages after winning the shootouts 5-3.
It is worth remembering that it is Al Hilal Benghazi that eliminated Uganda Cup champions Kitara in the first round of the preliminaries.
