Zamalek often complain about what they perceive as lack of media integrity when it comes to the coverage of their footballing matters.

They accuse the media of trying to destabilize the team, who are enjoying a revival under highly-regarded coach Hossam Hassan, to favor their arch-rivals Ahli.

Those accusations have been dormant for a while but Saturday's reports that keeper Al-Sayed was involved in a heated exchange with striker Zaki, who has just returned from a loan spell with English side Hull City, brought them back to the surface.

"Those are baseless rumors, nothing happened in Saturday's training session," Zamalek football director Ibrahim Hassan, who appears an ardent supporter of the conspiracy theory, said on the club's official website on Sunday.

"Coach Hassan never permits any misbehavior inside the team. There aren't any problems between Al-Sayed and Zaki.

"The media should be accurate when publishing such stories because their allegations destabilize the team and may affect the results."

Zaki is even angrier, given that he is doing his best to break into Zamalek's squad in their remaining league and Egyptian Cup games.

His relationship with Hossam Hassan was frosty before he joined Hull in January so any disciplinary problems will do no him no favor in his quest to regain his position as Zamalek's first-choice striker.

"I have a great relationship with Al-Sayed but some people are trying to disrupt our fine run," the Bulldozer said.

"I returned from England to resurrect my career here, I can't make any problems now."

Zamalek are likely to finish runners up to champions and arch-rivals Ahli in the league, a competition they last won in 2004.

Their only chance of silverware this season lies in the Egyptian Cup, which will begin after the end of the league games.