Al Ahly vs ES Tunis | CAF CL FINAL Match Preview
Follow the first leg final of the Orange Caf Champions League between Egyptian giants Al Ahly and defending Champions Esperance of Tunis Live on nilesports.com.
Match info
Competition: CAF Champions League
Date: 4 Nov 2012
Kick Off: 19:00 Cairo Time
Al Ahly host Tunisia’s Esperance in the first-leg of the Champions League final at Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab Stadium on Sunday. It will be their third meeting in three years at Africa’s premier club competition.
Al Ahly Players comment on the final:
Emad Meteb:
Having our supporters back strengthens us
“Definitely this is going to be a very tough game, but all we are thinking about is the trophy. We know well the nature of the encounters between Egyptian and Tunisian clubs. We respect Esperance but we’re not afraid of them. We’ll do our best to win the title and dedicate it to the souls of our fans who lost their lives in Port Said. Along our campaign we were affected negatively by playing behind closed doors, and now that we have our supporters back, they’re going to strengthen our side going into such an important fixture”.
GEDO:
Mohamed Nagy “Gedo”: I hope to continue my scoring streak
“It doesn’t matter whether I score goals or not, what matters most is that Ahly wins the first leg and then the trophy after the away leg. Our focus now is to win Sunday’s game in a way that makes our mission in Tunis an easier one. Definitely I hope to continue my scoring streak after managing to score three times against Nigeria’s Sunshine Stars in the semi final. If I scored in the Champions League final this would be a very precious goal in my career”.
Esperance receive Msakni blow
Esperance will be without star midfielder Youssef Msakni in Sunday’s Champions League final first leg against Ahly.
The 22-year-old has been forced to undergo emergency surgery to remove the appendix, only two days before the eagerly-anticipated clash in Cairo.
“Msakni had an operation to remove the appendix early on Thursday. He will be out for seven days,” Esperance official Munzir Al-Chaouachi told Reuters.
Houcine Ragued comments on the match:
“Although we eliminated TP Mazembe, we do not feel arrogant. On the contrary, I would say that TP Mazembe was easier to play than Al Ahly,” Ragued told the FIFA on Thursday. “Against Mazembe, we knew that the most important thing was to avoid conceding a goal in Lubumbashi. We accomplished that mission, which made the second leg much simpler for us. I think Al Ahly will be a tougher opponent. We knew that, tactically speaking, we were better than Mazembe. That will not be the case against Al Ahly. They are more experienced, better balanced and used to playing in games with high stakes. They are less naive than Mazembe. This final could turn out to be a game of chess. We must be ready to face what they throw at us. ”
