Egypt’s football club Zamalek on Monday defeated Smouha 3-1 in the Egyptian league a few days after losing 1-0 to Algeria’s Belouizdad at home in the first round of the CAF Champions League group stage.

The win against Smouha pushed Zamalek, the defending champions, to fourth place in the league table with 32 points, five points behind leaders Ahly who played three matches less due to commitments in the recently concluded Club World Cup in Morocco.

Smouha remained in 12th place with 20 points after 18 games.

It has been a turbulent season for Zamalek whose Portuguese coach Jesualdo Ferreira returned at the helm last week for the third time only eight days after he was sacked by the club president due to poor results.

Zamalek’s next stop in the Champions League will be away against Al Merreikh of Sudan in Libya’s Benina Martyrs Stadium on Friday. Al Merreikh also have zero points from their first game against former champions Esperance of Tunisia who make up the rest of Group D.

In the past two editions of the Champions League, Zamalek, a five-time champion of the tournament, were ousted in the group stage.