Visiting Wydad Casablanca held Mamelodi Sundowns to a pulsating 1-1 draw in their Champions League Group D opener at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.

The home side went ahead after just three minutes courtesy of an own goal by Wydad’s Ibrahim Comara but Ismail El Haddad restored parity sixteen minutes later.

Right from the start Sundowns looked absolutely determined to grab a win with a couple of early chances which they failed to utilize .

However the visitors nearly took the lead on 26ninutes but Deniss Oyango produced a fine save to deny Mohamed Ounnajem’s effort from the edge of the box.

Meanwhile, the pace of Sundowns’ frontline was proving to be a thorn in Wydad’s plans,Gtason Sirino busted upfront on the 32th minute but his feeble shot went few centimetres out of the goal mouth.

Wydad could have had a second on the nine minutes to the break but this time, Brahim Nakach’s effort lacked the required accuracy to trouble Onyango in a one-on –one situation.

The game went into the half time interval with the scoreline locked at 1-1.

After the break, Wydad who were pinned back in their own half brought and made some few changes to address the problem of Amin Tighazoui’s isolation up front. Half-chances fell to Salaheddine Sidi who had a goal-bound shot rattled by the post while Nahiri’s shot was punched out.

The visitors continued to dominate proceedings as the game went on but were finding it hard to break down the Sundowns defence.

On the other end, Sundowns skipper Hlompho Kekana came close to handing his side the lead when he unleashed a strike from distance, but the midfielder’s effort was diverted away from danger and out for a corner.

The defending champions nearly caught Sundowns on the break in the 69th minute, but Onyango was on hand to deny Hakkach’s strike at goal.

With time running out, the clash became a stop-start affair with Wydad attempting to soak up every minute as fatigue began to set in.

Pitso Mosimane’s charges were building patiently going forward with 20 minutes to play while Wydad were defending with numbers behind the ball, with the hope of catching Sundowns on the counter.

The visitors held firm but Sundowns were guilty of not testing the away keeper enough as the final whistle blew ensuring that they started off their campaign with a share of the spoils.