Video: Zamalek out of CL after pitch invasion

Zamalek's Champions League game with Club Africain was canceled Saturday after hundreds of home fans invaded the pitch at Cairo Stadium in injury time, to deny their team a slim chance to go through.

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السبت، 02 أبريل 2011 - 20:07
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Zamalek's Champions League game with Club Africain was canceled Saturday after hundreds of home fans invaded the pitch at Cairo Stadium in injury time, to deny their team a slim chance to go through.

The Whites were taking a slender lead as the score line was 2-1 by the time several hooligans went past security personnel to disturb the game.

A handful of fans were followed by hundreds as some supporters assaulted the referee, his assistants and some of Africain players before they were secured.

Zamalek coach Hossam Hassan also passed out for a short while amid the mayhem. He returned to the stadium right after regaining consciousness.

Some of the hooligans went down with wooden rods, others with knifes. No major injuries have been reported up to press time.

The unpleasant incident might well prompt the Egyptian FA to reconsider resuming the Egyptian Premier League, which is to restart midway through April.

Security has been far from maintained in Egypt since the Janaury-25 Revolution, which forced ex-president Hosni Mubarak to step down on 11 February.

In the first leg, which Zamalek lost 4-2 in Tunisia, a couple of Africain fans invaded the pitch too.

Zamalek's football director Ibrahim Hassan was infuriated by the incident and called on his team's supporters to get onto the pitch in the return leg.

Regardless of the what the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will decide, the Cairo giants have been ousted from the Champions League round of 32 while Africain went through.

Mahmoud Fathallah and Hussein Yasser scored Zamalek's goals while Karim Aouadhi hit Africain's sole strike.

Pressure

Zamalek piled up pressure upfront from the very beginning, looking for an early opener.

Shikabala, who was not at his best, could have opened the scoring right after the kick off but missed the target from close range.

On 19 minutes, a Fathallah a glancing header went wide when the defender connected with a Shikabala curling free kick.

Despite their superiority, Zamalek were only able to create half chances till Hussein Yasser was brought down in the area to earn a deserved penalty kick.

Fathallah converted it one minute from the half-hour mark.

Eight minutes later, Aouadhi restored parity with a powerful free kick from approximately 35 yards.

Zamalek's Hazem Emam replaced Mohamed Ibrahim few minutes from the break. His introduction evidently injected zeal as he wreaked havoc down the right flank.

The diminutive wide man made an instant impact when he eluded a couple of challengers to send a cross that found an unmarked Yasser, who slotted into an empty net from point-blank range on the stroke of halftime.

Remain in Charge

Zamalek remained in charge after the break. However, Zouheir Dhaouadi could have canceled out their lead with a cross-cum-shot that agonizingly hit the bar on 58 minutes.

Africain's Bilel Ifa was sent off on the hour mark for a second bookable offence. The visitors' numerical disadvantage helped Zamalek tighten their grip on the game.

Shikabala wasted a golden chance to score when he was set up by substitute Abou Kone. The flamboyant schemer failed to lift the ball over the keeper, who advanced to bravely parry it away.

An unmarked Fathallah also spurned another clear-cut opportunity five minutes from time when he tried to score on the rebound from inside the area, only to see his effort go high over.

A headed goal by Ahmed Gaafar was correctly disallowed through offside in stoppage time, a refereeing decision that was followed by the chaotic pitch invasion.