The White Knights battered Obeid 6-0 to advance to the cup round of 16; a scoreline that Emam had predicted during a brief interview with FilGoal.com ahead of the match.

The diminutive wide man's goal is his first this season, and now he's looking for more.

"The game ended just like I expected while talking to you," he told FilGoal.com. "Zamalek's players are at their best these days and we are way better than we used to be (two years ago)."

In 2008 under the management of Ahmed Refaat, Zamalek faced a baptism of fire after infamously losing 1-0 at Obeid in the cup round of 32.

"Now I want to score against Ahli. I totally believe we can win this pivotal match," Emam, a product of Zamalek's youth academy, added.

Emam's relationship with head coach Hossam Hassan was strained early this season because of lack first-team opportunities.

However, Emam has been playing more regularly over the past weeks.

"I want to thank Hossam Hassan for giving me the opportunity to play for the whole 90 minutes (against Obeid). It's the first time that I play a full match in quite a while," he said.

"I get better and better every match and I intend to seize the chance Hassan gave me."