Esperance coach Nabil Maaloul revealed that his side will go for attack when they visit Ahli in the crucial CAF Champions League clash on Friday. The Tunisians need a draw in Cairo to make it to the semi-finals, while Ahli have to win by two goals in order to avoid an uncharacteristic elimination from the group stages. However, Maaloul is planning to take the lead against the Red Devils, who were beaten by an early goal in Tunis in July. “I think that going forward and putting pressure on Ahli's defense is the key to a semi-final berth,” the former Tunisia coach said at a press conference. “We have to close down on Ahli's full-backs in order to prevent them from helping the frontline. “I hope my team would score first; from this point it will be very difficult for Ahli to score three goals.” Esperance were the side who ousted Ahli from last season's competition, beating the Egyptian champions in the semi-final in controversial circumstances.
After losing 2-1 in Cairo, the Tunisian giants won 1-0 at Manzah Stadium, edging the tie on the away-goal rule, thanks to the infamous strike of Nigerian Michael Eneramo. Egypt-Algeria memories On the other hand, Ahli veteran Mohamed Barakat says that the current situation resembles the one he faced with Egypt two years ago in the World Cup qualifiers with Algeria. Egypt needed to beat their North African neighbors by two goals in Cairo, which they did, to force a playoff game, eventually edged by the Algerians in Sudan. “The Esperance game looks like Egypt V Algeria. We needed two goals and that's what we managed to do,” Barakat, who will miss the game through injury, told FilGoal.com. “But in this game, there is no room for frustration or despair.” Barakat almost sent Egypt to the World Cup with the third goal in the 2-0 win over Algeria, but marginally missed from close range in the dying moments of the game.
