ZAMALEK lost more ground in their quest to win their third consecutive Egyptian football league title, losing badly to Pharco 3-0 on Monday, marring the return of Portuguese manager Jesualdo Ferreira who had been fired just 12 days earlier.

Shoukri Naguib, Amr Gamal, and Saif Thierry were the scorers in the sixth, 29th and 94th minute respectively.

Ferreira had been let go on 25 January following a string of poor results. His assistant Osama Nabih took over for one match in a caretaker role, defeating Future 2-1.

But Ferreira, 67, returned just eight days later, without his assistant foreign coaches who, according to Zamalek Club President Mortada Mansour, had “sowed mistrust between the Portuguese coach and Nabih”. Ferreira had dismissed Nabih as his assistant coach earlier in January over reported disagreements.

“I hope the brilliant relationship between the two coaches returns again,” Mansour said.

As of Monday, league leaders Ahly have 37 points from 15 games. Pyramids and Future are tied at 31 after 16 games. Zamalek are fourth with 29 points, having played 17 games, exactly mid-way in the season. 

Pharco went up to 10th, tied with Smouha at 19 points but having played one game extra.

Ahly, currently playing in the Club World Cup in Morocco, have had two matches postponed.

In two separate stints, the Portuguese tactician helped Zamalek win the Egyptian Premier League in 2014 and 2021 in addition to two Egypt Cup titles.

Zamalek start their African Champions League group campaign on 10 February against Algerian side CR Belouzidad.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 9 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly