In the derby were Zamalek lost 1-0, left-back Ricardo, midfielder Mohamed Aboul-Ella and striker Gamal Hamza were all given their first starts in over a month.

In the second half, Hamza was taken off and Ricardo was replaced by Osama Hassan, who also didn’t feature regularly in recent weeks.

“Ricardo wasn’t fully fit, but we had to field him as Hassan was also away from the team and couldn’t start right away,” Soliman said after the game.

Hamza, Ricardo, Hassan and Aboul-Ella were all suspended from the team’s training between November 9th and December 15th as a disciplinary measure.

“We agreed that Hamza will play as much as he can, then we’d replace him afterwards.”

Soliman added that despite receiving a knock in the second half, Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed wasn’t substituted upon the keeper’s own request to carry on.

Following the loss, Zamalek are currently sixth in the league table with 21 points, while Ahli’s win lift them to second on 29 points.