Ahly to play Barcelona in August

[Pharaoh]

they almost crossed paths at the Club World Cup. Let's hope for another shock result for European club football.

Ahly to face Europe champions
BBC Sport, Cairo


Ahly beat Real Madrid 1-0 in 2001


Egyptian giants Ahly will face European champions Barcelona in a friendly match in Cairo as part of the club's centenary celebrations.

Next month, Ahly will celebrate 100 years of existence - a period in which they have won 99 trophies.

Barcelona are expected to receive nearly US$2m for playing the match and field a strong squad, including star names such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi.

The match is to be bankrolled by a conglomerate of Egyptian companies and banks.

Although the day of the game has yet to be determined, it is expected to be held between May and August.

"The final date will be decided depending on Barcelona's progress in the Champions League," said Ibrahim El Mealem, the head of Ahly's centenary celebrations committee.

Ahly's projected clash with Barcelona follows on from the African champions' match against Real Madrid in 2001.

The Egyptians won the game 1-0 despite Real fielding players of the quality of Raul, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.

The Barca tie will be the third match for the Cairo club against a Spanish side in recent years.

In 2003, the Egyptians drew with Real Sociedad 1-1 in an exhibition match in Spain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ca/6424705.stm

[palestine2003]

wow.. thanks for that man.. im definatly gonna have to attend this match if its between may and august..!! laazzzzzzimmm neshoof el ahly vs barca..

[roy]

Kabeer ya ahly (i'll be there too man)
Beeb beeb Ahly, bithibu meen? Ahly.
El Ahly hadeed

[Pali]

wow amazing man looking forward to this match. Roy are you any part Egyptian?

[Pharaoh]

man i hope i go to egypt this summer. if i do it'll be later on, so i hope the match is in august. who knows.. if we're all there we could all go sawa .

roy basha is full iranian from what i know, but he has lots of egyptian friends. yela ya roy enta raye7 masr emta?

[Pali]

man i hope i go to egypt this summer. if i do it'll be later on, so i hope the match is in august. who knows.. if we're all there we could all go sawa .
roy basha is full iranian from what i know, but he has lots of egyptian friends. yela ya roy enta raye7 masr emta?

yeah man for sure

[Pharaoh]

Match will be on April 24th and 8 p.m. Cairo time. sucks. oh well, hope we can pull off another Real Madrid inshallah.

[yashar_fasihnia]

didnt u say august earlier??
anywayz, gud luck to ur team!

barca isnt on its best performance so far, so maybe u guys can just scrape through!
goodluck!

P.S. wats hussam hassan doing these days?? im quite sure he has retired now atleast!

[Pharaoh]

didnt u say august earlier??
anywayz, gud luck to ur team!
barca isnt on its best performance so far, so maybe u guys can just scrape through!
goodluck!
P.S. wats hussam hassan doing these days?? im quite sure he has retired now atleast!

That's what it seemed like, though the final date hadn't been set. The general time-table was sometime this summer, so this announcement was a surprise. I don't want Ahly to do anything out of the ordinary or play cautious or defensive. If they play their normal attacking, possession, pressure game they'll be fine. That's how they upset Roma and Real, won the ACL twice in a row and won bronze at the CWC. I don't want Barca to sense even an ounce of fear or intimidation on our part, and a cautious, defensive game will do that.
Hossam Hassan is still alive and kicking... he just won't quit. You can call him our version of Ali Daei . He's still playing in the Egyptian league for a mid-table team, and there are some rumors that he'll be transfering to Ittihad Alexandria (moderate upgrade in clubs) by next season. Like Mubarak, I think Hossam plans on remaining in his current occupation until death, and possibly beyond . Anyways thanks for the well-wishes.

BEEEB BEEEB AHLAYYYY

[Pali]

Match will be on April 24th and 8 p.m. Cairo time. sucks. oh well, hope we can pull off another Real Madrid inshallah.

lol couldn't have come at a worse timing man...if it was earlier i could have gone for spring break and if it was a bit later i could have gone after my exams!

[roy]

Halla ya shabab,
I'll be going to Doha on the 24th (this month) and will get there 2 houres after the Qatar Iran Game (can you f***int belive it).
If i still have (foloos) i'll try to come to the game (we gotta hit some bango before n after the game Aiii).

[roy]

wow amazing man looking forward to this match. Roy are you any part Egyptian?

No, i is Irani, but alot of my mates when i lived in Doha my are Egyptian.
My mother Is half Palastinian half German.
My Dad's mother is from Lebanon, his dad is Iranian.
They went to Uni together in Bremen and got married then i was born 2 years latter in Hamburg, my dad got a contract in Qatar and they took me with them to Doha when i was 6 months old.
2 years i go i got married to a Geordie (English from the north east-Newcastle) and now i have a baby girl who is got like 6 countrys in her blood.
End of the Day i'm a Kaviani (my last name) and out of all that mix in me i is, was , always will be: Iranian.

[Hibernian-Mad]

My team - Hibernian will play Barcelona in July in Edinburgh in a pre-season friendly.

It's causing that much interest, that it looks like it will be moved from our home ground that holds 17,000 to Murrayfield rugby stadium, that holds 67,000!

Im really looking forward to it!!

Shana Haji may even play!!