Etoile Sahel of Tunisia stunned title holders Al-Ahly of Egypt 3-1 on Friday to win a first African Champions League title.
No one outside Tunisia gave Etoile a chance at Cairo Stadium after they were held 0-0 two weeks ago in the first leg of the African Football Confederation (CAF) club showpiece.
Victory was particularly sweet for the men from the Mediterranean resort of Sousse as they were crushed 3-0 by Ahly at the same ground in the 2005 African Champions League decider.
Lifting the trophy completed a clean sweep of CAF titles for Etoile, who had won the Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup twice and the Super Cup and Confederation Cup once.
Ahly were seeking two records — a third consecutive title and sixth overall — but the early second-half dismissal of defender Emad al-Nahas turned a match the Egyptians were poised to win.
Etoile took the lead in first-half stoppage time through Afouene Gharbi, only for al-Nahas to equalise five minutes into the second half of a thrilling final watched by a capacity 50 000 crowd.
Needing to score again under the away-goal rule, Ahly laid siege to the Etoile goal until al-Nahas was shown a red card by outstanding Moroccan referee Abderrahim al-Arjoun.
Ahly never regained their momentum with 10 men and survived a few scares before Amine Chermiti put Etoile ahead for the second time two minutes into stoppage time and Mohamed Ali Nafkha added a late third. — Sapa-AFP