Match info:
KO: at 19:00 Cairo time (17:00 GMT+2)
First leg result: Moghreb Tétouan 1-0 Ahly
Venue: Petro Sport Stadium (Cairo)
Ahly’s demanding supporters made it clear they would not tolerate another African Champions League elimination as the team host Morocco’s Moghreb Tetouan in a crucial last-16 clash at Cairo’s Petrosport Stadium on Saturday.
A stumble against Tetouan, who gained a first-leg advantage after a late free-kick from Mouhcine Yajour gave them a 1-0 home win, is likely to prompt a backroom reshuffle at Africa’s most successful club, who won the Champions League a record eight times.
“We have no choice but to overturn our first-leg defeat against Moghreb Tetouan to remain in the competition,” Garrido told reporters on Thursday.
“We suffered two defeats lately and there is no room for a third defeat.”
Ahly will have to do without regular left-back Hussein El-Sayed and Nigerian striker Peter Ebimobowei due to injury.
“Any club has its ups and downs, but Ahly will rise up again and I’m afraid it could be against us,” Tetouan’s Spanish manager Sergio Lobera said.
Ahly’s chairman Mahmoud Taher explicitly told coach Juan Carlos Garrido in a recent meeting that winning the premier domestic competition is a must but this seems a far-fetched aim now.
Reports are suggesting that the Spanish boss will be shown the door anyway at the end of the season but his tenure could end as soon as Saturday if Ahly failed to reach the Champions League group stage for the second successive year.
The match will be live at 19:00 Cairo time (17:00 GMT+2) on nilesports.net
