Zamalek of Egypt repeated the scenario of beating Tunisia's Esperance 3-1 in the African Super Cup two weeks ago, when they beat it with the same result today, Friday, at Cairo International Stadium in the quarter-finals of the African Champions League football match.
Esperance started by Algerian Abdel-Raouf bin Ghaith in the 27th minute, and Zamalek responded with a triple of Moroccans Mohammed or Najim (31), Ashraf Bencharqi (71) and Mahmoud Alaa (90 + 4 from a penalty kick).
Esperance completed the match with ten players since the 73rd minute to expel Mohamed Ali bin Ramadan, due to the many protests against Moroccan referee Radouane Gayed after the second goal, where they called for a mistake on Commander Khalil Shammam.
The two teams will meet again next Friday at the Olympic Stadium in Rades.
French coach Zamalek, Patrice Carteron, expressed his happiness at the victory of his team, and said: "To be late in front of a big team like Esperance and score three goals is a great achievement." The goal got us out of our defensive bloc and we went back well in the second half. ”
"The third goal was good for us to play the second leg with relative satisfaction, but we must repeat a historic match in Rades if we want to qualify."
He continued, "It was a complicated match and a complicated week, the players were champions after they did it in the Super Cup." He pointed out that his team had not yet qualified, "With my experience on the continent, Esperance is a big and difficult team and achieved great results at home and we must play a big match there."
He explained, "From tomorrow, we will work to prepare for the next match, which will be very difficult."
Esperance was the best party in the beginning of the game against clear confusion of the Zamalek defenders, and Libyan Hamdo Al-Huni almost put his team in the lead in the first minute with a powerful shot that goalkeeper Mohamed Abu Jabal barely pushed him to a corner, then another shot of the player himself passed next to the left post (4).
The pace of the match subsided until the 27th minute, when Esperance succeeded in opening the recording from an organized attack, after which the Hun passed a ball to Bin Ghaith quickly, then he fired it from outside the area to the left of Abu Jabal.
Zamalek players felt embarrassed in front of 30,000 fans in the stands, and responded quickly and in a wonderful way when Onagem fired a strong ball with his right from outside the region, I live in the far right corner of goalkeeper Moez bin Sharifiya (31).
The guests continued their attacking pressure in the second half, and the substitute, Shammam, hit a powerful ball that Abu Jabal barely pushed into a corner (53). Mustafa Mohamed responded with a shot over the crossbar (56).
Bishriqi succeeded in granting progress to the owners of the land with a shot from a close distance, which I live to the right of Benchrifa (71).
The Esperance players vigorously objected to the goal, especially Shams Al-Din Al-Thawadi, who tightened the referee well from his shirt and Ihab Al-Mubaraki, who paid for what forced him to publicize the red card in the face of Bin Ramadan (73).
The Esperance players were confused after the goal and their ordeals increased by calculating a penalty after obstructing Benchriki inside the region from Al-Thawadi, and Mahmoud Alaa to Yassar bin Sharifiya scored a third, precious goal (90 + 4).