Elias Mokwana's Esperance began their FIFA Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 loss to Flamengo on Tuesday morning.
Flamengo gave a full debut to midfielder Jorginho, who joined the club on a free transfer from Arsenal a couple weeks ago while South Africa's Mokwana started on the bench for the Tunisian champions.
The Tunisian outfit started on the defensive from quite early on as Flamengo took control of the ball in the opening ten minutes without creating much in the final third.
The Brazilians eventually made their dominance count on 20 minutes Luis Araujo knocked Guillermo Varela's cross into the path of Giorgian De Arrascaeta, who made no mistake from close range.
Esperance, meanwhile, did see a bit more of the ball after going behind but they struggled to carve out clear-cut openings and were requested to efforts from distance.
The African giants responded with a double change at the start of the second period, with Yan Sasse and Chiheb Jbeli making way for Mokwana and Abdramane Kone in the attack.
Esperance came out for the second half with a bit more attacking intent after the double change, which nearly led to the equaliser as goalkeeper Agustín Rossi produced a fine save to keep out Youcef Belaïli's strike.
Flamengo, however, silenced the Tunisians with 20 minutes left on the clock as Luis Araújo was afforded time and space to pick out the bottom corner with a superb strike on the edge of the box.
The Tunisian champions will now look to bounce back against Los Angeles FC on Saturday, while Flamengo take on Chelsea on Friday night.
