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Holders TP Mazembe crashed out of the African Champions League after a 3-1 aggregate loss to Wydad Casablanca.
The Moroccans, led by former Real Madrid boss John Toshack, scored late in DR Congo to earn a second-leg 1-1 draw.
Meanwhile the tie between Enyimba and Etoile du Sahel went to penalties, with the Nigerian side going through.
ASEC Mimosas, AS Vita Club and Al Ahly are the other teams through to the group stages after Wednesday's action.
Mazembe had taken the lead in their match against Wydad after 28 minutes as Mali defender Salif Coulibaly headed home a corner from Ghana's Solomon Asante.
But Wydad's Reda Hajhouj equalised in injury time, to give the visitors a comfortable aggregate margin.
Mazembe now drop down to the Confederation Cup play-offs, the draw for which is on Thursday.
Eight-times record African champions Al Ahly of Egypt left it late before progressing to the group phase with a dramatic win against Tanzania's Young Africans.
The tie was delicately poised going into the second leg in Alexandria after the teams had drawn 1-1 in Dar es Salaam.
Ahly, managed by former Tottenham boss Martin Jol, took the lead in the 51st minute through Hossam Ghaly.
But the impressive Tanzanians hit back with an equaliser from Donald Ngoma 16 minutes later.
With the fixture heading towards extra-time, Ahly secured their place in the next stage of the competition with a winner from El-Said deep into stoppage time.
Penalty drama
It was even tighter in the late match between Nigeria's Enyimba and hosts Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia.
Enyimba had a 3-0 lead from the first leg but that disappeared as Etoile scored through Hamza Lahmar in the first half, followed by two goals in the second half from Diogo Acosta.
Etoile took a 2-0 lead in the shoot-out but Enyimba came back to win it 4-2 and progress.
Etoile, who won the Confederation Cup last year, will now have the chance to hold on to that crown.
Elsewhere, Ivorians ASEC Mimosas lost their second leg to Libya's Al Ahly Tripoli 2-1 on Wednesday, but advanced 3-2 on aggregate.
The match was played in Tunis on security grounds.
In Pretoria, AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo went through on the away goals rule, after losing the second leg against South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Vita Club increased their advantage when Kule Mbombo scored a precious away goal after 38 minutes to make it 2-0 overall.
The South African side fought back, first from the penalty spot when Nthethe scored just before half-time, and then through a Langerman strike 15 minutes from time.
That made it 2-2 on aggregate, but it was not enough for the South Africans with Vita Club squeezing through.
The draw for the group stage will be held on 24 May in Cairo, Egypt.
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