Ahly’s striking duo Walid Azaro and Junior Ajayi are confirmed to miss Friday’s anticipated match against Tunisia’s Esperance in the African Champions League group stage, according to the Egyptian champions’ football director Sayed Abdel-Hafiz.
Ahly will be hosting the Tunisian giants at Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab Stadium in the opening match of the group stage of the prestigious African tournament.
“Azaro hasn’t recovered yet from his muscular injury, while Ajayi needs some time to recover from the muscular injury that he picked in the Egypt Cup match on Monday,” Abdel-Hafiz was quoted as saying by the club’s official website.
Moroccan striker Azaro, the Egyptian Premier League’s top scorer with 18 goals, missed the team’s last two matches due to a hamstring strain, while Nigerian Ajayi was injured early as the team was dealt a stunning 1-0 defeat against Assyouti on Monday to elminate them form the Egypt Cup quarter-finals.
Ahly, who were crowned African champions a record eight times, are drawn in Group A with Esperance alongside Uganda’s Kampala City and Botswana’s Township Rollers.
The Cairo giants, who clinched their last Champions League title in 2013, were close to winning the continental title last year but lost in the final 2-1 on aggregate to Moroccan side Wydad de Casablanca.
Ahly secured the Egyptian league title for the third time in a row last month with six matches to spare.