Esperance Tunis and Al Ahly set out to lay one hand on the CAF Champions League title when they face off in the first leg of their grand finale on Saturday at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi.
The sides will be keen to steal an early march on each other ahead of next week's return leg in Cairo where one of them will be crowned continental champions.
Match preview
© Reuters
Following a goalless stalemate in the first leg, Al Ahly ran out emphatic 3-0 winners against TP Mazembe in the sides' semi-final second leg at the Cairo International Stadium three Fridays ago.
Marcel Koller's men broke the deadlock through Mohamed Abdelmonem midway through the second half before Wessam Abou Ali and Akram Tawfik sealed the deal.
That was the first of five straight wins across all competitions for Nadi El Watanniyah, who sit sixth in the Egyptian Premier League table having played five games fewer than current leaders Pyramids FC.
Unbeaten in five of their last six away matches leading up to Saturday's heavyweight clash, the visitors now prepare themselves for what is set to be a tough assignment on the road in their quest for a 12th continental title.
Esperance Tunis claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on April 26 to secure a 2-0 aggregate triumph and book their place in the final of this year's CAF Champions League.
Raed Bouchniba opened the scoring 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute to get the job done for Miguel Cardoso's men, who had their backs against the wall for large spells of the contest.
Since then, Mkashkha have won just one of their four matches across all competitions, although that victory did come in their most recent league outing against Etoile Sahel.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have come out on top in each of the last four and are unbeaten in all but one of the last 15 editions of this fixture.
Having not suffered a home defeat since losing to Saturday's opponents in May 2023, this weekend's hosts go in search of a much-needed victory as they aim to reach the pinnacle of African club football for the fifth time.
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Team News
Yassine Meriah has found the back of the net in his last two matches and will be looking to deliver the goods for Esperance Tunis once again.
Midfielder Yan Sasse has been directly involved in four goals in this season's CAF Champions League, which is the second-most in the competition so far.
Having seen his side unbreached in the tournament so far, Marcel Koller is expected to stick with his regular defensive unit of Ali Maaloul, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Rami Rabia and Mohamed Hany.
Omar Kamal came off the bench to good effect for the visitors last time out and the 30-year-old could be rewarded with a place in the XI here.
Esperance Tunis possible starting lineup:
Memmiche; Hamida, Tougai, Meriah, Ali; Ghacha, Chaaleli, Aholou, Yan Sasse, Teka; Rodrigues
Al Ahly possible starting lineup:
Shobeir; Hany, Rabia, Abdelmonem, Maaloul; Kouka, Tawfik; Tau, El Solia, Abdelkader; Ali
We say: Esperance Tunis 1-0 Al Ahly
Both sides boast mean defences heading into Saturday's clash, which we expect to be cagey and keenly-contested. Esperance Tunis will be keen to take a lead into next week's second leg, and we fancy the hosts to come out on top, albeit by only a narrow margin.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Esperance Tunis win with a probability of 38.04%. A win for Al Ahly had a probability of 33.97% and a draw had a probability of 28%.
The most likely scoreline for a Esperance Tunis win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.61%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8%) and 2-0 (7.06%). The likeliest Al Ahly win was 0-1 (10.81%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.15%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood.
