FAR Rabat of Morocco gave it their all but fell short in the TotalEneriges CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final, second-leg clash against USM Alger of Algeria in Rabat on Sunday night.

The Moroccans won the second-leg 3-2 at Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah in Rabat, but it wasn’t enough as they lost the tie 4-3 on aggregate, having lost the first-leg 2-0 last week.

FAR Rabat started the second-leg on the front foot and took the lead after just eight minutes, courtesy of an own goal by USM Alger’s Oussama Chita.

The Algerians, however, responded quickly, as Saadi Radouani leveled the score for the Algerians four minutes later.

The match was evenly contested for the rest of the first half, with both teams creating chances but failing to capitalize on them.

FAR Rabat dominated the second half and were rewarded in the 60th minute when Diney Borges scored, with an assist from Abdelfattah Hadraf, to put the home side in front.

USM Alger refused to go down without a fight, and Khaled Bousseliou equalized for them in the 78th minute, setting up a tense finale to the match.

FAR Rabat continued to push forward and they were awarded a penalty in the 97th minute.

Mohamed Hrimat stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake, sending the ball past the USM Alger goalkeeper Oussama Benbot to give his team the victory.

But it was USM Alger who had the chance to seal their passage to the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

FAR Rabat can hold their heads high, knowing that they gave it their all, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough to progress in the competition.

USM Alger, on the other hand, will be delighted to have made it to the semi-finals and will now face ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire.