Last season's Champions League runners-up Zamalek will kick off their African campaign when they host Nigerian league holders Enugu Rangers in the competition's round of 32 first leg at Cairo's El-Salam Stadium on Sunday. Having failed to clinch their sixth Champions League trophy when they succumbed to a 3-1 aggregate defeat to South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns last season, Zamalek will be hoping things would go their way this time around. Enugu Rangers' name is quite familiar to Egyptian football fans, after the team famously ousted Ahly from the 2003 CAF Cup quarter-finals with a 4-0 aggregate win. However, the prospect of the Enugu-based side causing a similar upset against Ahly's perennial rivals Zamalek seems far-fetched, given the Nigerians' dismal domestic record of late – currently lying 16th of their 20-team league table. Zamalek, on the other hand, are currently third in the Egyptian league standings, but their fate in the domestic competition seems to be surrounded by uncertainty after club chief Mortada Mansour announced they would forfeit the competition. A contentious refereeing decision in Zamalek's 1-0 league defeat to rivals Maqassa denied Zamalek what appeared to be an obvious penalty, in a game that saw the Cairo giants miss a handful of first-half goal-scoring chances. How far the Zamalek first-team have been distracted by the ramifications of the Maqassa penalty saga will be on display against Rangers, whose best continental achievement was finishing as African Cup of Champions Clubs runners-up in 1975. The Cairo giants will be boosted by 5,000 fans cheering on them from the stands, with Mansour's appeal to increase the number of home supporters has been rejected. On the pitch, the game may witness the long-awaited comeback from injury of left-back Mohamed Nassef – whose absence forced Zamalek manager Mohamed Helmi to field the right-footed Hosni Fathi instead in recent league fixtures. Zamalek will, however, miss the services of winger Ahmed Refaat and midfielder Mahmoud ‘Dunga' Abdel-Aati due to injuries, with the absence of defenders Ahmed Tawfik and Mahmoud Hamdi also continuing. Manager Helmi, whose future has come under scrutiny of late, should find no problem selecting his best attackers on Sunday, with Zamalek enjoying a clean bill of health in their attacking department. Seven-time Nigerian champions Rangers, who were founded in 1970, overcame Algeria's JS Saoura on away goals in the preliminary round en route to their clash with five-time champions Zamalek. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
