CAIRO: Ahly s Mohamed Abou-Trika was benched in the 3-0 victory over Olympic because the technical staff wanted to save his energy for the CAF Champions League clash against Young Africans, Hossam Al-Badri revealed.
The 30-year-old playmaker was named for the Egyptian Premier League match after recuperating from an ankle injury, but he didn t feature for the Cairo giants.
Assistant coach Al-Badri also stated that veteran midfielder Ahmed Hassan, who scored the second goal, was substituted for the same reason.
We didn t field Abou-Trika because we want him to be fully-fit ahead of our Young Africans encounter on Sunday, Al-Badri told the post-match press conference.
We also let Hassan make way for Ahmed Sedik in the second half when victory seemed within grasps, so as he gets enough rest before the forthcoming game.
Ahly will host Tanzanian champions Young Africans on Sunday in the Champions League round of 32.
When asked about the game, Al-Badri sounded his satisfaction with the Red Devils performance.
It was a good game. We claimed all three points, which was vital for our quest to retain the league title, he commented.
It could have been a tough challenge, but we took a stranglehold on the game when our opposition played defensively.
Ahly put an end to their four-match winless streak upon registering a deserved win over second-bottom Olympic.
On the other hand, Olympic assistant coach Nabil Al-Dakkak admitted that his men failed to keep up with the defending champions.
Al-Dakkak cited his outfit s lack of experience and the unavailability of some key players as reasons behind the home loss.
We sorely missed Hassan Mohamed and Ayman Shaaban. We couldn t cope with Ahly s onslaught, but we weren t horrible either, he said.
The Alexandrian club is now languishing in 15th place with 20 points.
They are widely expected to be relegated by the end of the season.
We still have eight games in hand, and we will keep fighting to remain in the top flight, Al-Dakkak concluded.
