CAF Champions League
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has extended his heartfelt congratulations to Al Ahly for their remarkable triumph in clinching the CAF Champions League title, defeating Esperance in a thrilling match held in Cairo.
Al Ahly will face the league-bottom Harras El Hodoud on Thursday night in Cairo and they hope to restore their position atop of the table as they are two points behind the leaders, Pyramids, but with six games in hand.
Al Ahly are entering the game with a big advantage after winning the first leg 3-0.
Al Ahly, the 10-time record champions of Africa, know that nothing but victory could send them to the quarter-finals.
The game was played under tough weather conditions as the temperature hit 34C, which affected the performance of the players.
The game was initially scheduled on 11-12 February and it was moved to 5 March at 9:00 PM (Cairo Time).
Maaloul has been playing for Al Ahly since 2016 when he arrived from his childhood club, CS Sfaxien.
Carteron will count on his hard-running attacking line of Achraf Bencharki, Ahmed Sayed Zizo, Youssef Ibrahim Obama and Seifeddine Jaziri.
One of the best additions to Al Ahly ranks is Luis Miquissone, a young winger from Mozambique who joined the Red Eagles for the next four years from Simba.
Al Ahly extended their record as the club with most CAF Champions League titles to a total of 10 and they are five titles ahead of Zamalek and TP Mazembe.
Mosimane hopes to guide his team to the title again and he believes that his players are ready to clinch the title.
Al Ahly participated in the CAF Champions League final on a record 13 previous occasions, having secured the title on nine occasions and they are chasing the 10th title in the club's history.
Mosimane understandably sticks to the starting XI which performed so impressively in the team's 1-0 win in the first leg in Tunisia, only changing Salah Mohsen by Mohamed Magdy Afsha
Mosimane knows that Esperance of Tunisia have nothing to lose when they face Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League semis second leg on Saturday night.
Esperance arrived in Cairo on Thursday and they had their main training session on Friday night at Al Ahly stadium in Al Salam.
It is expected to be a crunch 90 minutes to decide who will secure the ticket to the CAF Champions League final.
The player joined Al Ahly's full training on Wednesday and he has a good chance to play in the game on Saturday.
Al Ahly host the Tunisian team in the second leg of the CAF Champions League semi-finals.
Al Ahly defeated Esperance 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mohamed Sherif, securing Al Ahly’s fifth win over Esperance away from home.
Al Ahly are three matches away from securing the title for the second season in a row and achieving a positive result in Tunisia is the beginning for Moimane’s men.
