The prolific hitman was left out of the team's 18-man squad for the game after, but he revealed that playing too many matches in a short time is the main reason behind his absence.

"Playing matches in a short period of time made me feel exhausted, especially that game in Rwanda at artificial turf last week," Zaki told FilGoal.com.

"I also have a slight knock and I will undergo scans, but I am looking forward to return soon."

Zaki played six games for Egypt in the African Cup of Nations in Ghana, before joining Zamalek in the Champions League game at APR Rwanda a few days after the tournament.

The 25-year-old stressed that his exclusion from Baladeya game was a manager's decision as he claims that he was ready to play despite injury fears.

Zamalek under-fire coach Ruud Krol will have to deal with a striking crisis as Mostafa Gaafar will also miss out on the Baladeya match due to fitness problem.

However, the Dutchman welcomes back Gamal Hamza and Alaa Abdul-Ghani after the duo served a one-match suspension.

Despite committing a fatal error against Ismaili, goalkeeper Mohamed Abdul-Monsef is likely to start as regular guardian Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed failed to recover from injury in time.

Krol should turn around Zamalek fortunes if he is to save his job. The league runners-up lie fifth in the league table with 27 points.

Zamalek squad:

Goalkeepers: Mohamed Abdul-Monsef, Emad Al-Sayed.

Defenders: Amr Al-Safti, Mahmoud Fathallah, Beshir Al-Tabie, Wissem El-Abdi, Tarek Al-Sayed, Mohamed Abdullah, Ahmed Ghanem.

Midfielders: Mohamed Aboul-Ella, Ahmed Abdul-Raouf, Ahmed Magdi, Alaa Abdul-Ghani, Mahmoud Abdul-Razeq 'Shikabala', Hazem Emam.

Strikers: Gamal Hamza, Sherif Ashraf, Abdul-Halim Ali.