Mansy hat-trick sails Zamalek past Merreikh in seven-goal thriller

Nasser Mansy scored a hat-trick, including one at the death, to help Egyptian giants Zamalek to beat El Merreikh 4-3 on Friday night to finish third in Group D of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

The seven-goal thriller in Cairo looked to be headed for a draw until Mansy ensured the White Knights clinched all three points at home to move to seven points on the last match day, two ahead of the Sudanese side.

In an extraordinary duel, the two sides having nothing to lose as qualification was already out of their hands, Zamalek led 2-0 after only two minutes and 51 seconds. But, the Sudanese rallied to draw level at 2-2 then go ahead, before Zamalek scraped back.

Mostafa Shalaby scored after just 11 seconds on the clock, the quickest goal in the Champions League this season, before Mansy doubled the tally after two minutes and 51 seconds.

However, Merreikh pulled one back in the seventh minute through skipper Ramadhan Agab, before they completed the comeback three minutes after the break through Hussein Algozoli.

Paulo Sergio took the Sudanese into the lead in the 56th minute, but Zamalelk labored to get back into contention with Mansy equalizing after 64 minutes before scoring the winner at the death.

Straight from kick off, Zamalek scored the opener when Shalaby swept the ball home after being set through by Ahmed Belhadji.

The latter created the second goal less than two and a half minutes later, setting up Mansy who finished with a smooth low shot.

But Merreikh fought back and in the seventh minute they halved the deficit when skipper Agab chested the ball home from close range off a Bakhit Khamis cross from the left.

Zamalek had some chances to extend the score, but it remained the same at the break.

Three minutes after the restart, Merreikh were level when Algozoli struck a well weighted shot before Sergio scored their third and took them into the lead with a brilliant header from skipper Agab’s cross.

But Zamalek were not about to take this lying down as they went level in the 64th minute through Mansy’s bouncing header. They kept pressing for a winner and were rewarded at the death when the forward struck a shot from the edge of the area.