African club of the century Al-Ahly SC managed to beat its arch-rival Al-Zamalek 2-0 in the largest Middle East derby in round 17 for Egyptian football league.
Al-Ahly scored first, in the 55th minute during the second half, by Gabonese international powerful striker Malick Evouna, with a skilful fast attack, closing with a wonderful finish.
Substitute striker Amr Gamal grabbed the second goal for Al-Ahly in the 88th minute, killing the game and giving the Red Devils a well-deserved victory. Al-Ahly now tops the table, with 38 points, far ahead of Al-Zamalek with a seven point difference, which stands in second place with 31 points.
Al-Ahly team started the game with 4-3-3 formation, depending on Abdullah Saeed, experienced captain Hossam Ghali and Hossam Ashour to control the midfield. The attacking strikes came from Ramadan Sobhi and Momen Zakaria on the wings and powerful striker Evouna was up front using the attacking flow from right back Ahmed Fathi and left back Sabri Raheel.
Ball possession and good positioning from the red team gave them dominance in the game, while the other side played a defensive 4-3-3 formation. Three defensive midfielders were present, showing low creativity and depending only on the individual skills of Ayman Hefny and Kahraba up front. Meanwhile there was an absence in form from striker Basem Morsi.
Central midfielder Maarof Yousef and Omar Gaber were the only two stand-out factors for Al-Zamalek during the game, when Yousef missed two chances; one shot from the first half and one in the second half. Gaber performed well during the game.
Al-Ahly’s Momen Zakaria and Ahmed Fathi missed a lot of chances to score, which Al-Zamalek goalkeeper Shenawi managed to save. However in the second half, Al-Zamalek’s defensive formation could not prevent Evouna from scoring a wonderful goal after skipping past Al-Zamalek’s defence and finishing with a top class goal.
Al-Ahly substitute striker Amr Gamal then scored the killer goal with a quick counter strike, well passed from rising Al-Ahly talent Ramadan Sobhi. This led Al-Zamalek president Mortada Mansour to sack team manager Mido, and he is currently searching for a replacement.
