Ahly's newly appointed coach Jose Peseiro (AP)
After beating Ghazl El-Mahalla 2-0 on the second match day of the Egyptian Premier League, Ahly's newly appointed coach Jose Peseiro has asked the Egyptian Football Association authority to allow fans to be able to attend games.
Ahly claimed an easy 2-0 win over minnows Ghazl El-Mahalla in the Egyptian league on Sunday, thanks to goals from midfielders Abdallah El-Saied and Hossam Ghaly.
El-Saied opened the scoring from the spot in the 38th minute, while the skipper Ghaly doubled the lead eight minutes from time.
"We need to find a solution for the crowd bans as playing without fans is very difficult," Peseiro said during the post game press conference.
"We have to repeat what happened in the Super Cup game in Emirates as that added pleasure to the game," Peseiro added, referring to having an audience to watch the match.
Football spectators have been banned in Egypt since February 2012 when 72 Ahly fans died in the Port Said Stadium disaster. In February this year the ban was lifted but immediately re-imposed after 20 Zamalek fans died in a stampede at the Cairo Air Defence Stadium.
"It's the first time for me to lead games without fans attending," Peseiro said.
The win is Ahly's second in as many games, following their narrow 1-0 victory over Talae El-Geish in the opening week, as they start the long bid to win the league after losing the title to arch-rivals Zamalek last season.
"The Ghazl El-Mahalla game was more difficult than the Talae El-Geish meeting, but Ahly deserved the victory," Ahly’s Portuguese tactician concluded.
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