Al-Ahly Club will come up against the Tunisian giants, Esperance, in the first leg of the semi-finals of the African Champions League match scheduled for 7 pm East African time in the evening, Saturday, at the Hamadi Al-Aqrabi Stadium in Rades.

Al-Ahly comes into Esperance match tonight in search of a positive result and a new step in the quest to defend the title, and to chase a record of a tenth Champions League crown in the club’s history.

The Egyptians will be looking for favourable result that will give them an advantage going into the return leg next week.

Al-Ahly’s technical staff, led by South African Pitso Musimani, knows the importance of the match in the journey to defend the title, and took advantage of the international break to prepare well to face Esperance, and played a friendly match against the Egypt Insurance team, before deciding to give the players a rest for a week.

Al-Ahly qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League for the 16th time in its history, after defeating the South African champion Sundowns 3-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.

Esperance’s qualification came at the expense of Algeria’s CR Belouizdad after the Tunisian champions managed to compensate for their 2-0 loss in the first leg to win by the same result in the return match. Esperance won the tie via penalties to progress to the Semifinals.