Sierra Leone international, Prince Barrie and his Guinean top-flight club Hafia FC suffered a 1-0 defeat in Benin, at the Mathieu Kérékou stadium on Saturday.
The only goal of the day was scored by match-winner Jean Marie Guerra in the first leg preliminary of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Former Inter Allies attacking midfielder, Barrie made his continental debut but was not able to rescue a defeat for his side.
Hafia will have to overturn their first defeat on the continental stage after 15 years of absence if they are to make the next stage of the competition.
The two sides meet again in the second leg in Guinea next week, with Energie taking a 1 nil narrow advantage to their West African counterpart.
The winner after two legs will have a cracking double date with Enyimba (Nigeria) in the second round.
Elsewhere, Egyptian club Al Masry dominated and registered a resounding victory over Green Buffaloes of Zambia.
The Zambians now face an uphill battle in the reverse fixture next week.
2018 CAF Con fed Preliminary Round (1st Leg) Results – Names of Scorers in bracket
Friday: AS Onze Createurs 1-1 CR Belouizdad [Lassana Samake (pen) || (Youcef Bechou)
Saturday: Ngazi Sport 1-1 AS Port Louis 2000 – [Adele Fanomezantsoa || Jonathan Ernest]
Olympique Star 0-0 Etoile Filante – Young Buffaloes 0-1 Cape Town City – [Nana Akosah-Bempah]
Costa do Sol 1-0 Jwaneng Galaxy [Terrance Tisdell] – Mangasport 0-1 AS Maniema [Basiala Agee]
Petro Atletico 5-0 Masters Security [Tiago Azulao, Tony Rosa Ribeiro 3X, Diney Costa dos Santos]
Energie Sports 1-0 Hafia FC – [Jean Marie Guerra]
Al Ittihad Tripoli 1-0 Sahel SC – [Muad Issa] – AS Tanda 0-0 La Mancha
New Stars FC 2-1 Deportivo Niefang [Junior Ngongang 2X || Salif Diarra]
Al Masry 4-0 Green Buffaloes – [Islam Salah, Aristide Bance, Mohammed Koffi, Islam Eissa]
Follow Us On twitter @football_sierra