Manuel Jose will be eyeing a stylish farewell to his African exploits with Ahli when they host Angola's Santos in the Confederation Cup round of 16 first leg. The Portuguese coach will lead Ahli in an African competition for the last time after announcing that he would leave the club to take over at Angola next month. "It was a very difficult decision for me," Jose, who steered Ahli to four Champions League triumphs in two spells at the helm, commented. The 63-year-old has a chance to finish his African adventure in the best possible way by helping the Red Devils restore their wounded pride at the expense of Santos. Ahli suffered a stunning Champions League exit at the hands of Nigeria's Kano Pillars in the preliminary round to miss out on the chance of defending the title they won last season. They now seek solace in the Confederation Cup – Africa's secondary competition. "We want to claim a comfortable win over Santos to ensure our progress to the next round," Ahli assistant coach Hossam Al-Badri said.
The Cairo giants threatened on Friday not to broadcast their match against Santos after a dispute with the Egyptian Television and Radio Union (ERTU) over their dues. But they backtracked on their stance few hours later after ERTU pledged to pay them EGP 300,000 to air the game on terrestrial channels. Ahli will miss influential defender Wael Gomaa, who picked up a groin injury in his side's 1-0 victory over Harras Hodoud in the Egyptian Premier League on Monday. Mohamed Samir is expected to deputize for him to play alongside skipper Shadi Mohamed and Ahmed Al-Sayed in Ahli's three-man defense. Mercurial midfielder Mohamed Barakat and left-back Sayed Moawad have been left out of the match's squad for no apparent reason. There was room for out-of-favor striker Ahmed Hassan Farag, whose future at Ahli remains unclear. The former Ghazl Mahalla man has been being given limited opportunities to prove his worth since joining last summer.
