TheCable

Kano Pillars of Nigeria were swept off their feet by Moghreb Athletic de Tetouan (MAT) after losing 4-0 in the CAF Champions League match in Morocco.

Mouhcine Iajour scored a 22-minute hat-trick as the Moroccan side triumphed in the first leg of their delayed last-32 tie.

The match had been postponed after Kano Pillars were involved in an armed robbery attack on their way to Owerri to face Heartland in the first week of the Nigeria Professional Football League.

They experienced another attack this time on the pitch as Iajour scored in the 14, 27 and 35 minutes of the match while Zaid Krouch added a fourth goal in the last minute.

The four-time champion of Nigeria now have a huge task in the return leg at Sani Abacha Stadium on April 4.

But a member of the team’s continental committee and former chairman of the club, Abba Yola, though still in shock with the team’s thrashing in Morocco, expects a miracle in Kano when both sides meet again.

“I am in shock. It was not a good game for us at all and no one saw this coming,” he told supersport.com.

“Miracles happen and if there are any group of fans who will cheer their side till the last minute irrespective of the consequences, those fans are the fans of Kano Pillars.

“It will be difficult but the players, coaches, fans and everyone involved with Kano Pillars must believe (it is possible to overturn the deficit). They (fans) must turn out in their numbers and cheer the boys to victory in the second leg. ”