Ahly's demanding supporters made it clear they would not tolerate another African Champions League elimination as the team host Morocco's Moghreb Tetouan in a crucial last-16 clash at Cairo's Petrosport Stadium on Saturday. A stumble against Tetouan, who gained a first-leg advantage after a late free-kick from Mouhcine Yajour gave them a 1-0 home win, is likely to prompt a backroom reshuffle at Africa's most successful club, who won the Champions League a record eight times. Thousands of Ahly's hardcore supporters flocked to the team's training pitch on Thursday to vent their anger, unfurling a banner that read: "Either Africa or you leave". A series of poor results in the Egyptian Premier League, the latest of which was a 1-0 defeat by Arab Contractors who exposed recurring lapses in Ahly's shaky defence, left the title holders 11 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Zamalek, who look well equipped to win their first title since 2004. Having won the league the past eight seasons, Ahly consider anything less than grasping the trophy at the end of the season an utter failure. Ahly's chairman Mahmoud Taher explicitly told coach Juan Carlos Garrido in a recent meeting that winning the premier domestic competition is a must but this seems a far-fetched aim now. Reports are suggesting that the Spanish boss will be shown the door anyway at the end of the season but his tenure could end as soon as Saturday if Ahly failed to reach the Champions League group stage for the second successive year. They were eliminated at the hands of Libya's Ahli Benghazi last year before going on to win the Confederation Cup to become the first Egyptian side to win the continent's secondary club competition. Garrido was at the helm when Ahly won the Confederation Cup with a last-gasp goal against Ivory Coast's Sewe Sport but this will count for little should the Red Devils stumble against the unfancied Tetouan. "We have no choice but to overturn our first-leg defeat against Moghreb Tetouan to remain in the competition," the former Villarreal boss told reporters on Thursday. "We suffered two defeats lately and there is no room for a third defeat." Ahly will have to do without regular left-back Hussein El-Sayed and Nigerian striker Peter Ebimobowei due to injury. "Any club has its ups and downs, but Ahly will rise up again and I'm afraid it could be against us," Tetouan's Spanish manager Sergio Lobera said. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/129136.aspx
