Zamalek and Sagrada Esperança played out a 0-0 draw in Cairo on Friday night, in their last outing of the 2021/2022 CAF Champions League.
Already out of the race for a quarterfinals spot ahead of their encounter at Cairo International Stadium, the two sides were looking to bid farewell to their continental campaign on a high note.
The White Knights displayed their intentions in the early stages of the encounter when Achraf Bencharki nearly grabbed the lead as he struck the woodwork with a beautiful long range effort.
With the half progressing clear-cut chances were proving difficult to come by and certainly wouldn’t have pleased the sparse crowd in attendance.
But with almost half an hour played Esperança did have a chance to test Mohamed Awad, but to the frustration of the away side’s technical bench, Francisco Hungo experienced a rush of blood as he fired his effort well over the bar from inside the area.
Trek Hamed almost surprised Gerson with a cracking effort from well outside the area which had the Esperança custodian relieved to see the ball past the upright. Despite Zamalek best efforts the score remained goalless as they went into the half-time interval.
Meanwhile, the resumption of the second half saw Esperança struggling to open up the hosts’ defence, having to manoeuvre on the unfamiliar turf.
However, Esperança came so close twice in a matter of seconds as they hit the woodwork with goalkeeper Mohamed Awad beaten hands down.
They first had a chance through Bonginkosi Dlamini, and Jo Paciencia also came close to notching the lead.
With less than five minutes remaining, both teams failed to create goal scoring chances and they both settled for a goalless stalemate.
How they lined up:
Zamalek: Mohamed Awad, Hazem Emam (Ayman Hefni 82), Mahmoud Alaa, Mohamed Abdel-Ghani, Mohamed Abdel-Shafi, Tarek Hamed, Mohamed Ashraf (Seif Gaafar 83), Eslam Gaber (Sayed Abdallah 71), Youssef ‘Obama’ Ibrahim, Achraf Bencharki, Seifeddine Jaziri (Abdallah Gomaa 46)
Sagrada Esperanca: Gerson, Luis Tati, Kailonda Gaspar, Lulas, Muenho, Celso (Carlinhos 72), Victoriano, Anibal, Bonginkosi Dlamini (Januario da Cruz Sesa 46), Jo Paciencia (Jefer Gunjo 80), Lepua
