Asante Kotoko crashed out of the CAF Champions League on Sunday, as they were defeated 3-0 by Etoile du Sahel in Monastir.
Goals from Ben Ouanes and a brace from Laaribi Karim either side of the half cemented the victory for the Tunisians as they progressed on a 3-2 aggregate after losing the first leg 2-0 in Kumasi.
The Porcupines were hoping to write history on Sunday by making it to the "Money Zone" (Group Stages) of the CAF Champions League for the first time since 2006.
But the Tunisians dented any hopes of the Porcupines going into the next phase of the competition to ensure that, their wait to end the 13-year group stage appearance in the continent’s biggest inter-club competition continues.
Etoile du Sahel make their intentions known from the blast of the referee whistle, seeking to cancel out the 2-0 deficit. They were awarded a spot-kick in the 24th minute when the Egyptian referee penalised Justice Blay for handling the ball into the box.
The Ben Ouanes made no mistake from the spot as they beautiful dispatched the ball to open the scoring for his outfit. Laaribi Karim scored the second and third goal in the 67th and 7th minute respectively for Etoile du Sahel with two well-placed headers for beyond the reach of Felix Annan to secure victory for his side as they progress to the "Money Zone" of the competition.
The Tunisians played the latter part of the second half with a man down following a red card issued to Saddam Ben Aziza.Â
The results mean Kotoko will now drop to the CAF Confederation Cup, a competition they played last season and failed to progress beyond the "Money Zone".
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