African champions Esperance out to break tradition at the Fifa Club World Cup

Esperance defender Ayman Ben Mohamed is savouring the likelihood of meeting Spanish giants Real Madrid at the Fifa Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

The Tunisians start their campaign against United Arab Emirates champions Al Ain on Saturday.

Winning against Al Ain will see Esperance book a date against South American champions River Plate in the semifinals and navigating past that stage could seal a meeting with Real Madrid in the final.

“Hopefully we do come up against Real Madrid,” Ben Mohamed told BBC Sport.

“It's a good challenge. We're very excited about coming up against the top teams. African teams in general don't do well in the tournament. This year we're going to try to be an exception.

"I'm really excited about the Fifa Club World Cup - I can't wait for it to come. It's something you dream about, playing in an international tournament like that against champions of other continents."

European champions Real Madrid are also the Club World Cup defending champions.

An African team has never won the World Club Cup with TP Mazembe and Raja Casablanca coming close by reaching the final in 2010 and 2013 respectively.