A win for Ahli at Cairo Stadium in two weeks' time will be enough to lift the Red Devils through to the competition's final as they seek an unprecedented third successive title.

Manuel Jose stuck with the players he fielded in the team's 1-0 Cairo derby victory over Zamalek, with the only change being Ahmed Adel, who deputized for injured right-back Islam Al-Shater.

Walid El Khatroushi almost put the hosts ahead after six minutes when he went clear on goal after latching onto a deft through pass.

Essam Al-Hadari rushed out but he only managed to get a hand to the ball before Ahmed Al-Sayed came to Ahli's rescue when he cleared the ball off the line.

In the 25th minute, Ittihad's Mahmud Makhlof collected a pass on the left and cut inside before hitting a low shot that went wide of the post.

Ahli could have stunned the home crowd in the 37th minute when a neat give-and-go between Flavio and Mohamed Abou-Treika released the latter but his shot from a tight angle was blocked by Ittihad keeper Samir Abboud.

Four minutes before the break, Ali Rahuma tried to side-foot a long ball inside the area but his shot was too weak to bother Egyptian international Al-Hadari.

In the second-half, clear-cut chances were few and far between.

Six minutes after restart, Ittihad's French-born Yoann Langlet raced down the left flank and crossed at the near post for Rahuma, whose effort narrowly missed the target.

Angolan striker Flavio wasted a golden opportunity to grab the lead for Ahli in the 79th minute.

A long ball slipped out of Abboud's grasp on the edge of the area and Flavio pounced, but his shot took a slight deflection off a defender and went out for a corner.

Abboud was at fault again in the resulting corner and Mohamed Barakat capitalized to fire a powerful shot from inside the area but it was blocked by a defender.