Esperance Sportive de Tunis face Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday knowing they must overturn a one-goal deficit if they are to reach the CAF Champions League final, but right-back Mohamed Dräger is not thinking about the mountain ahead – he is thinking about what lies beyond it.
Mamelodi Sundowns hold a 1-0 advantage heading into Saturday’s return fixture, with Brayan León’s 51st-minute strike in Tunis giving the Brazilians a slender but crucial lead.
For Esperance, it is a case of scoring at least once in Tshwane while keeping Sundowns out – a tall order against a side of this quality on their own turf, but one Dräger believes his club is equipped for.
The 29-year-old was born in Freiburg, Germany, to a German father and a Tunisian mother, and only joined Esperance in January this year, making this CAF Champions League run the first taste of African club football in what has otherwise been a career spent navigating European leagues.
His previous clubs include Nottingham Forest, Olympiacos, FC Basel and Eintracht Braunschweig, building a profile that few players currently in Tunisian football can match.
The transition from Europe to Africa – and from the national team environment to the pressure of continental club football – has not been lost on him.
“Club football at this level is different from the national team,” Dräger said. “As you know I played many games in Africa with the national team, but yeah, it’s a different kind of pressure, a different kind of vibe, and I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
Dräger has represented Tunisia internationally since 2018 and was part of the squad that travelled to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so the logistics of long-haul African football are not foreign to him.
Still, a 15-hour journey from Tunis to Pretoria is a different kind of challenge even for experienced travellers.
“To be fair it’s not an everyday journey — it’s 15 hours plus or something,” he said. “Of course we needed the first night to adapt. All of the boys are used to it, even me and the others who came from Europe, used to this kind of travelling with the national team.
“So it’s not a big surprise – it’s part of Champions League football and Africa. Mashallah, it’s a big continent, we’re all proud of it. In Europe it’s a bit easier, the distances are shorter,” he said. “But yeah, it’s part of the game, part of Africa, our culture. Everyone is part of it at the end of the day.”
For Dräger, the significance of where Esperance could take him this season goes beyond the destination. Having previously competed in the UEFA Champions League, he is now experiencing the CAF equivalent – and he is acutely aware of what that means for his career story.
“We’re still in the semi-final and hopefully we can make it to the final,” he said. “It’s a dream come true – the second Champions League competition of my life, first the European and now the African. It’s something to be proud of by the end of my career.
“If I can win it, I’ll be more proud, inshallah – I think I’m at the right club to help me win it.”
Sundowns host Esperance Sportive de Tunis in the CAF Champions League semi-final second leg at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, 18 April 2026.
