Former TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup champions, Zamalek SC came from behind to snatch a late victory from Future FC in the Quarter-Finals of the competition played at the Al Salam Stadium on Sunday evening.
A stellar performance by Ahmed Sayed saw him provide an assist for Hamza Mahlouthi before getting the all-important win that cancelled out Khaled Abdelhamid’s opener, as the White Knights walked away 2-1 victors.
The former champions were all over their opponents who did well to absorb the pressure in throughout the tie.
It was Zamalek who first showed probing signs as the ever-green Shikabala almost opened the scoring with a brilliant solo run in the 27th minute, but saw his strike saved by an alert Mahmoud Elrhim.
The lead unexpectedly came for Future who after absorbing most of the pressure broke in transition which concluded with Mohamed Salama laying off a perfect ball for Khaled Abdelhamid who found the opener against his former club.
With just seconds to the break and Future looking at going into the break with the lead, the White Knights showed their pedigree as Hamza Mahlouthi headed home the equalizer from a delightful corner by Ahmed Sayed.
Returning from the back, the 2018/19 champions continued surging forward in search of the lead and were almost rewarded early into the second half after Shikabala again eliminated numbers to set himself up for a long-distance strike which was met by the safe hands of Elrhim.
The lead did eventually come in the dying minutes of the game after the troublesome Seifeddine Jaziri was brought down in the box for the referee to point to the spot kick, as Sayed capped off a five-star performance with a conversion that took his goal tally in the competition to four.
Meanwhile, Abu Salim SC held former champions RS Berkane of Morocco to a goalless draw in a simultaneous fixture played in Libya. While the result may a disappointing for the Libyan side who gave it their all against the Moroccans, they will head to the return leg with their heads held high from the positive performance against the two-time champions.
TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup First-Leg Results:
Rivers United FC 1 – 0 USM Alger
Stade Malien 1 – 2 Dreams FC
Abu Salim SC 0 – 0 RS Berkane
Future FC 1 – 2 Zamalek SC
Sunday, 07 April | Second Leg Fixtures
16h00 GMT | Dreams FC v Stade Malien
19h00 GMT | Zamalek SC v Future FC
21h00 GMT | RS Berkane v Abu Salim SC
21h00 GMT | USM Alger v Rivers United
