“He had a scan which showed it’s a second-degree tear in the hamstring. He will be out for three weeks,” Zamalek doctor Mostafa Al-Monayeri told FilGoal.com.

Samir captained Zamalek on his returning debut against Harras Hodoud last week, playing as a center-half for most of the game following the sending off of Amr Al-Safti.

The natural right-back was poised to partner Mahmoud Fathallah once again at the heart of the Whites’ defense in Wednesday’s crunch game with Petrojet in Suez.

Now manager Hossam Hassan is left with outcast Mohamed Younes as the only option to resolve the problem in central defense.