LIVE: Vita Club v Al Ahly SC | CAF Champions League | MARCH 9th 2019

Match info:

Time: 18:00 Cairo local time | 11:00 ET

Venue: Complexe Omnisports Stade Des Martyrs, Kinshasa

Referee: Victor Miguel De Freitas Gomes

Ahly will be looking to boost their position in charge of their CAF Champions League group when they take on Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the fifth matchday of the group stage in Kinshasa Saturday.

The Cairo giants are in high spirits after a superb winning streak in the Egyptian league that saw them overthrow big-spending Pyramids FC from second position and close the gap with arch-rivals and table-toppers Zamalek to a mere one point, although the latter have a game in hand.

The team will be missing keeper Sherif Ekramy, January-signed midfielder Hamdi Fathi and striker Marwan Mohsen, all due to injury.

“We enter tomorrow’s game with one target which is winning and securing all three points in order to qualify to the quarter final,” Ahly’s Uruguayan tactician Martin Lasarte told a press conference on Friday.

“I know Vita Club well and I know how difficult they are when they play at home but our players have the needed experience to overcome any difficulties,” the 57-year-old manager added.

Ahly will have to feature against the Congolese side on artificial grass, a surface which poses a challenge to the players.

Ahly, who have reached the last two finals of the competition but tasted defeat on both occasions, to Moroccan Wydad AC and Tunisian Esperance respectively, top their group on seven points.

Tanzanian Simba are second on six points, JS Saoura of Algeria are third on five points, while Vita Club sit last on four points.