CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: PILLARS ADVANCE INTO NEXT ROUND

The victorious Pillars team, however, wasted no time in the central Africa Republic as it returned last night in a chartered flight . Speaking after the tie, club chairman, Alhaji Abba Galadima, stressed that they had gone to Bangui to win, but praised his team 'We went to Bangui to win but all the same, we are contented with the draw since it guaranteed us passage to the next round. Pillars will play either Casa Sport of Senegal or Morocco's Moghreb Tétouan in the first round in the weekend of 15-17 March and April 5-7 .

Pillars had the likes of the former Heartland striker, Kabiru Umar and fit-again Mannir Ubale consigned to the bench. Mustapha Musa played in defensive midfield after Eagles' Gabriel Reuben did not make the trip to Bangui, owing to late resumption to training with the team last week after his arrival from the AFCON in South Africa. The Pillars' central defence was to be manned by two players who have been capped by Nigeria at full international level, Papa Idris and Umar Zango.