Celebration by Al Ahly players. (X)

Al Ahly, the defending champions, turned the tables on their traditional rival Zamalek, the league leaders, and secured an exciting 2-1 victory on Monday at Cairo International Stadium in the final match of the ninth round of the Egyptian Premier League.

Zamalek opened the scoring through Hossam Abdel Meguid (32nd minute, penalty), but Al Ahly responded in the second half with two goals from substitutes Hussein El Shahat (72) and Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet” (77, penalty).

Al Ahly continued their resurgence with a third consecutive win and fourth this season, raising their points tally to 15 with one game in hand, climbing to third place, two points behind league leaders Zamalek who suffered their second defeat this season.

Al Ahly entered the match missing many key players, including former Zamalek duo Imam Ashour (illness) and Ahmed Sayed “Zizo” (injury), as well as Moroccan defender Achraf Dari, Mohamed Shokry, Karim Fouad, Mohamed Magdy “Afsha”, and Slovenian Nitz Gradisar due to injuries.

Interim coach Emad El Nahhas fielded his former defensive partner with a frontline of Taher Mohamed Taher, Trezeguet, Moroccan Achraf Ben Sherki, and Mohamed Sherif, while Tunisian Mohamed Ali Ben Ramadan returned to the starting lineup.

On the other side, Zamalek’s squad was almost complete except for midfielder Mohamed Shehata (injury) and Angolan winger Chico Banza, who was left out by Belgian coach Yannick Ferreira for tactical reasons. Ferreira relied on a frontline of Nasser Maher, Palestinians Adam Kayid and Ady Aldabbagh, and Brazilian Joao Alvina, supported by veteran playmaker and former Al Ahly player Abdullah Al-Saeed.

Just four minutes in, Alvina broke behind Al Ahly’s defense and passed a through ball to Aldabbagh, who was one-on-one with goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, but the latter made a brilliant save.

Nasser Maher missed another chance for Zamalek after dribbling past Mohamed Hany and passing to Kayid, who returned the ball to him, but his ground shot went just wide (10).

Al Ahly responded with a cross to Taher, where defender Hossam Abdel Meguid almost scored an own goal, but the ball went out for a corner (12). Another cross by Ben Sherki was headed by Yasser Ibrahim just wide of the right post (12). Then Ben Ramadan passed to Taher, who laid it off to Trezeguet, whose powerful shot was caught by goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhi (23).

Spanish referee Soto Girado awarded a penalty to Zamalek after a foul by Yassin Marai on Aldabbagh. Abdullah Al-Saeed took the penalty but El Shenawy saved it brilliantly. After VAR review showed Yasser Ibrahim entered the penalty area before the shot, the penalty was retaken and this time Abdel Meguid scored, opening the scoring (26).

The referee awarded a penalty to Al Ahly for a handball by Moroccan defender Mahmoud Bentayek following a shot by Taher, but after VAR review, the penalty was canceled as the ball hit the chest of a Zamalek defender (45).

Al Ahly pressed in the second half but without clear chances until the 58th minute when Trezeguet stole the ball near the edge of the box and shot just wide. A minute later, Bentayek crossed into the box, but fellow Moroccan Ben Sherki cleared skillfully.

El Nahhas substituted El Shahat for Taher Mohamed Taher (69). Three minutes later, he passed to Sherif, who dribbled past Abdel Meguid and returned the ball to El Shahat, who fired a powerful shot into Sobhi’s net (72).

El Shahat won a penalty after being fouled by Bentayek, and Trezeguet successfully converted it to give Al Ahly the lead (77).

The crossbar denied Zamalek an equalizer by blocking a header from substitute Amr Nasser following a cross from Al-Saeed (90+3). Another chance from Al-Saeed to Nasser also missed the target (90+7). Substitute Aliou Dieng dribbled past players and passed to fellow substitute Omar Kamal, who strangely missed a chance to score Al Ahly’s third goal.

Elsewhere, Ismaily lost to Bank Al Ahly 1-2 with goals from Mohamed Ammar (76, penalty) for Ismaily and Mustafa Shalaby (20) and Osama Faisal (27) for Bank Al Ahly. El Gouna drew 1-1 with Ceramica Cleopatra, with Marwan Mohsen scoring a penalty (54) and Ragab Nabil scoring for Ceramica (76).