Al Ahly of Cairo will face Ahly Benghazi in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Friday.
Match info: Date and time: 21 Mar 2014 – 15:00 (CLT)
The African champions are not expected to be taking the game lightly due to some unpleasant memories with Benghazi’s El-Ashry, who emphatically beat the Reds 2-0 to guide Hodoud to the Egyptian Super Cup title back in 2009.
Despite playing 10 games against Libyan sides, this is the first time Ahly take on four-time league champions Ahly Benghazi currently second in their league’s Group B.
Ahly do boast a fine record against Libyan teams, however, winning seven and losing twice the last of which came against Ittihad Tripoli in the Champions League last-16 first leg in 2010, before the Egyptians eventually overturned their two-goal deficit to advance to the group stage.
The biggest win for Ahly over a Libyan outfit came in the Champions League in 1977, when they claimed a thumping 7-3 aggregate victory following a 7-2 first leg success.
Friday’s match could well see another Egyptian playing against Ahly former Zamalek midfielder Ahmed Eid Abdel-Malek, who joined the Libyan club on loan this season.
Ahly enter the game with no injury concerns after retrieving the services of Egyptian forward Mohamed ‘Gedo’ Nagy and Ramy Rabia who both missed the Dakhleya defeat through injuries.
Coach Youssef, however, will have to do without striker Emad Meteb, who will be out for another two months due to a niggling hamstring problem.
Meanwhile, coach El-Ashry has announced that his squad have no injuries ahead of the Ahly clash.
