Zamalek will miss one of its most prominent stars for Monday’s match against Al Ahly due to his failure to recover from an injury.
According to Egyptian media reports, Mohamed Shehata was unable to complete his rehabilitation program early and will be unable to make it to the upcoming Egyptian football summit.
Shehata is suffering from a torn hamstring muscle that has kept him out of action for Zamalek for the past month. He is expected to remain sidelined at least until the return from the next international break.
Shehata’s absence is a major blow to coach Yannick Ferreira, especially after Nabil Emad Dunga suffered a severe abdominal bruise, potentially ruling him out of the Al Ahly match as well.
With Dunga and Shehata absent, Zamalek will be without a clear defensive midfielder, with the exception of Ahmed Rabie, who has yet to feature for the White Knights since joining from Al-Bank Al-Ahly last summer.
In this case, coach Ferreira may be forced to rely on Salah Mossadek as a center-back in midfield, or Mohamed Ismail. However, he will have to replace the center-back duo at that point, and resort to Mahmoud Hamdi El-Wensh, who has returned from suspension, alongside Hossam Abdel-Majid.
It’s worth noting that Zamalek leads the Egyptian Premier League standings with 17 points from eight matches, while Al-Ahly enters the match in fourth place with 12 points from seven matches.
