CAIRO: Ahly winger Gilberto faces up to two months on the sidelines due to an ankle fracture, the club s football director said on Sunday.
The Angolan international sustained the injury while playing for his national team in last month s African Cup of Nations.
Gilberto will be out for between six to eight weeks, Hadi Khashaba told Ahly s official website.
He will undergo an intensive rehabilitation program to fully recover.
Gilberto put in some fine displays in the Nations Cup but hosts Angola failed to make it to the semi finals after losing 1-0 to eventual runners-up Ghana in the quarter final.
The 27-year-old, who joined the Red Devils in 2002 from Petro Atletico, was a regular member of an Ahly side who won a host of local and continental titles during the past few years.
His place was taken by Egyptian international Sayed Moawad this season.
Moawad is also nursing an injury sustained during the Nations Cup, leaving coach Hossam Al-Badri with no choice but to rely on youngster Ayman Sherif when Ahly face Harras Hodoud in the Egyptian Premier League on Thursday.
Sherif made his first-team debut in Ahly s 4-2 victory over Police Union on Friday.
