Match info: Venue: Tata-Raphael stadium DR Congo | Date & Time: 18 May 2014 – 17:30
Live on: www.NileSports.tv
Zamalek will be opening their CAF Champions League group stage at DR Congo’s AS Vita Club in buoyant mood after a last-gasp equaliser against Wadi Degla saved their domestic league season last week.
The Whites were on the brink of missing out on qualification to the final mini-league phase until a crucial 93rd-minute header by striker Ahmed Gaafar kept alive their hopes of booking a place in the competition’s playoffs.
The Cairo giants, however, will be entering the game fearing trouble after a league finale between Vita Club and bitter rivals TP Mazembe saw 15 people killed in a stampede, prompted by teargas fired by the police at rioting fans.
Despite the disaster, CAF announced that Kinshasa’s Tata Rafael Stadium, which witnessed the tragedy, would still host the Zamalek clash, albeit with a limited number of 5,000 fans allowed in the 30,000 seat stadium.
Zamalek will also be looking for another clean sheet away from home, having yet to concede a goal in the competition so far this season.
Their performance in the last 16 round was particularly impressive, having marched through with an emphatic 5-0 aggregate win over Zambia’s N’kana Red Devils.
Vita Club, on the other side, had to survive a round 16 second-leg scare after seeing South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs take a two-goal lead in the return leg following a 3-0 first-leg trailing.
It’s the third time for five-time African champions Zamalek to meet Vita Club, whose sole continental triumph was in 1973.
Their last meetings were in last season’s round of 32, where a goalless first-leg draw in Kinshasa was followed by a 1-0 victory, thanks to a stunning Gaafar strike that settled the tie at Cairo Stadium.
Sunday’s encounter will also mark Zamalek’s seventh match against Congolese sides, with other meetings coming against Group A rivals TP Mazembe, who were defeated 1-0 at Sudan’s Hilal in the other group match, in 2002 and 2012.
