Zamalek Win Classic Cairo Derby

It was a weekend for the red and white as Zamalek earned bragging rights following their 3-1 win over rivals Al Ahly in an Egypt Premier League clash played at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday.

Al Ahly launched the first real attack in the second minute when Aliou Dieng tried a long range effort to no avail.

Zamalek eventually managed to break through the Red Devils defence in the 6th minute, when Youssef Ibrahim tried to find Mostafa Mohamed inside the box, but the pass was a little too strong for the striker, which allowed Mohamed El Shennawi to collect comfortably.

With Al Ahly gaining momentum, Aliou Badji found some space outside the area and hit a dipping volley in the 17th minute, but Mohamed Abou Gabal had little trouble in dealing with the effort.

Zamalek finally broke the deadlock in the 13th minute when Ahmed Sayed Zizo fired Achraf Bencharki’s cross to the roof of an empty net at the far post.

Al Ahly immediately launched their resurgence from the restart, but Hazem Emam and his backline held their shape and blocked the White Knights from advancing towards goal.

It could have been 2-0 in the 34th minute when Tarek Hamed collected a Zamalek clearance just over the halfway line before launching a menacing counter-attack, which Al Ahly were fortunate to escape from after Mahmoud Hamdi scuffed his effort at the back post.

However, Al Ahly equalized after an hour mark as Yasser Ibrahim chipped the ball into the net after a goal-mouth scramble after a header was blocked by Abou-Gabal.

El-Sulaya almost increased the Red Devils’ advantage five minutes later but the defender steered his header just wide of the upright.

Zamalek restored their lead through Mostafa Mohamed who connected Hazem Emam’s cross to the bottom corner of the net.

Mahmoud Alaa came forth with a superb tackle to deny Aliou Badji with a clean sliding tackle inside the White Knights box, which ended a promising Al Ahly counter attack.

Attention was immediately diverted to the other end of the pitch, as Zamalek added the third in 93rd minute as second half substitute Osama Faisal coolly tapped in Ounajem’s effort to make it 3-1.