CAIRO: Everything went off peacefully as Al Ahly’s first Egyptian league game for a year brought a 1-0 win over Ghazl El-Mahalla on competitions’ resumption after the crisis provoked by the Port Said Stadium disaster.
Ahly won on Saturday despite having been forced, by financial problems, to loan superstar Mohamed Aboutrika to UAE’s Bani Yas and midfielders Fathi and Gedo to Hull City.
Coach Hossam El-Badry said: “I agreed to loan out the three key players for reasons given by management but it will give our young players a chance to play, since we still have three competitions.”
Al Ahly were winners of the last completed league in 2011, went on to win last year’s African Champions League and finished fourth in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.
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