Fiston Mayele put the hosts upfront in the 51st minute after making a marvelous turn attracting thunderous celebrations from home fans who stormed the 60,000 capacity venue.
However, his goal lasted for only 17 minutes as substitute Mohamed Yousif balanced the equation to make it 1-1 until the final whistle of the match was blown.
However, the two sides meet again at Al Hilal Stadium in Sudan on Saturday where the overall winner will earn a passport to enter in the group stage.
After the match, Yanga Assistant Coach Cedric Kaze says they need to be more aggressive in the second meeting in order to achieve their mission of going further.
“Yes, we still have another fresh 90 minutes to play and in football, anything can happen. We just deserve to be aggressive and play our game,” says him.
His counterpart for Al Hilal Florent Ibenge has admitted that the outcome gives his side a slight advantage to cruise into the next phase.
“We have another match to play in Sudan of which we need to be cautious because the fight is not yet over,” remarks Ibenge.
If the scoreboard will be goalles in the return match, then Al Hilal will progress to the best 16 on away goal advantage.