Al Ahly v Zamalek | Cairo Derby | Match Preview
Match Info:
Egyptian League
Thursday April 26th, 2018
Time: 20:00 Cairo Local Time | 14:00 ET Canada-USA
Venue: CAIRO Stadium, Egypt
The match will be live online right here on nilesports.com ( Like us on Facebook to get all the notifications on your feed )
League Champions Al Ahly will host Zamalek in the final round of the domestic competition on Thursday.
Al-Ahly achieved the Egyptian League title in March, six weeks before the end of the season, and they are leading the table with 85 points, 27 points ahead of the third-placed Zamalek.
“The Cairo derby is a big chance for the players to reconcile with the club fans,” Galal Zamalek “temporary” coach was quoted as saying by the club’s official website on Monday.
“I am confident that the players can win and deliver a good performance despite of the recent financial crisis at the club. I hope that the problems will be solved as soon as possible to restore the needed stability,” he said.
“The players are determined to return Zamalek back to its normal place,” he concluded.
After a string of poor results that included a shock exit from the African Confederation Cup, Zamalek’s board terminated the contract of coach Ihab Galal and named Khaled Galal as the caretaker manager over a week ago.
The team ended a four-match winless run with a convincing 2-1 win over Assiouty Sport in their penultimate League match on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, Zamalek named Swiss tactician Christian Gross as their new coach but he will officially take charge after the ongoing season.
Ahly coach Hossam El-Badry has stressed the importance of Thursday’s Cairo derby against archrivals Zamalek, saying he has big goals for the Reds’ confrontation with the Whites.
Zamalek is a big team and I respect them a lot. I know we have already achieved the league title, but winning the derby games does not count on your position in the table, Coach Hossam El Badry told Al-Ahlys official website on Tuesday.
When asked about the teams motivations against Zamalek, he said, It is always a great feeling to defeat your rivals at the derby, and we hope to win the game to raise our spirits to continue our journey at Egypts Cup and the CAF Champions League.
Al-Ahly reached the Egypts Cup quarter-finals and they have qualified to the group stage of the CAF Champions League.
Ahly need just two points from their remaining games to achieve the biggest point tally in the competition’s history.
That record is currently held by rivals Zamalek, who collected 87 points in the 2014-15 season.
The match will be live online right here on nilesports.com
