Ahly, who look irresistible in the Egyptian Premier League, are favourites to secure a second straight African Champions League win on Saturday at home to FC Platinum but they are taking nothing for granted against their unfancied opponents. The Red Devils opened their group stage campaign with a disappointing 1-0 loss at Tunisia's Etoile Sahel but quickly recovered to beat Sudanese giants Al-Hilal 2-1 at home. Ahly have three points, on level with Al-Hilal and three behind Etoile who won two out of two games. With Platinum lying at the bottom after losing their two matches, Ahly should find no difficulty brushing them aside in Saturday's encounter at Cairo's Al-Salam Stadium, which the team will use as their official home venue starting January. But football director Sayed Abdel-Hafiz has warned against underestimating Platinum, who have never advanced past the group stage of Africa's premier club competition. "We are taking the match very seriously as we want to top the group," he told reporters. "We respect all our opponents and we know that every match has its own difficulties. We respect football so as not to turn its back on us." Ahly will be looking to build on their impressive domestic run, which saw them make a 100 percent start to defence of their title by winning their opening eight matches, conceding only one goal. They received a timely boost ahead of the Platinum tie with the return from injury of central defensive duo Rami Rabia and Yasser Ibrahim. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
