Ahly, Esperance rivalry takes another turn in Tunis

The fierce rivalry between continental giants Esperance of Tunisia and Al Ahly of Egypt will be renewed this weekend when they clash yet again at Rades Olympic Stadium, just outside the Tunisian capital Tunis, with a place at the last four at stake.

Both sides played to an exciting 2-2 draw last Saturday at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria, leaving the doors open for the return leg on Saturday, 23 September 2017.

Ahly took the lead from the spot via Abdallah El Said, but for Esperance to score twice through Taha Khenissi and Ghilane Chaalali. Moroccan-import Oualid Azaro restored parity in front of some 30,000 Ahly faithful.

This time Esperance will enjoy support from their diehard fans. The 60,000-seater Rades stadium will have 45,000 fans in attendance. And at the back of their minds will be payback for what happened some five years ago at the same venue.

After a 1-1 draw in Alexandria in the first leg of the 2012 CAF Champions League final, Ahly defied all odds to win 2-1 in Rades and claim their seventh trophy then; before extending their record to eight the following year.

However, Esperance coach Faouzi Benzarti is unfazed by that story.

“This is a totally different story,” the highly experienced trainer told local media this week.

“They have a different squad now, so do we. We're not playing for revenge. We just want to win and qualify to the semifinal. And I'm positive we're going to do exactly that.”

Benzarti opines his side was better in the first leg adding “I believe fatigue cost us dearly when they equalized late in the game. We should have won in Alexandria.

“I told my players to forget the result and play as if it's 0-0, so we must win. We cannot take anything for granted against a team like Ahly,” concluded the 67-year old tactician.

On the other hand, Ahly coach Hossam El Badry has urged his players to go for a win in Rades once again. Dubbed ‘home away from home’, the Red Devils have enjoyed series of good results at the infamous Tunis stadium, having won two of their eight Champions League titles there, 2006 against CS Sfaxien and 2012 against Esperance.

“I told my boys we have to give our all to give our supporters something to cheer about,” El Badry told CAFOnline.com after his side's last home training before leaving to the Tunisian capital on Thursday morning.

“After the home draw, some people wiped out our qualification chances, but I can see it’s not over yet. I believe it's a 50-50 issue and we will do our best to win in Tunis once again,” added El Badry was at the helm of the Cairo giants when they beat the ‘Blood and Gold’ to claim the continental title five years ago.

Nearly 10,000 supporters turned up at the Ahly headquarters to cheer the Red Devils at their final training session on Wednesday before departing for Tunis. And they have tasked the playing body to give off their best in the reverse, and offering a special support to goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy, whose blunder gifted Esperance the second goal during the first leg.

“I have to thank our faithful fans for their unbelievable support. We will do anything for them,” concluded El Badry.

The game is scheduled to kickoff at 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT), with aggregate winner progressing to the semifinal with either Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel or Libya's Ahly Tripoli as opponents.

Fixtures

23.09.2017    Tunis             Esperance (Tunisia) vs Al Ahly (Egypt)                (2-2)

23.09.2017    Algiers           USM Alger (Algeria) vs Ferroviario (Mozambique)          (1-1)

23.09.2017    Rabat            Wydad (Morocco) vs Sundowns (South Africa) (0-1)

24.09.2017    Sousse           Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) vs Ahly Tripoli (Libya) (0-0)