Shikabala criticizes Zamalek's performance against Al Ahly

Mahmoud Abdel Razek Shikabala, the former star of Zamalek, has criticized the performance of the white team against Al Ahly in the Cairo derby that took place last night, Sunday, in the sixth round of the Premier League, which ended with the Red Giant winning by two goals to nil.

Shikabala stated during his remarks on the "Kora Ma Faiq" program: "We are already defeated before the match. We have been playing 4-3-3 for a while, so why play 4-4-2 today? Also, I didn't train the players on this formation... The players played with a formation they weren't trained on, and the approach wasn't suitable for the match."

He added that the coaching staff had 25 days to prepare the team and correct mistakes, but they did not make the most of this period, saying: "We kept saying that we are not ready, where is the readiness from 25 days? You could have fixed it, but it is clear that we did not do anything during that time."

The former captain of Zamalek pointed out some shortcomings in the administrative handling of crises, citing the case of Palestinian professional player Oday Dabbagh. He explained that the player's trip to China for three friendly matches with his national team required more flexible administrative action, indicating that the management could have communicated with the Palestinian Football Association to reach an agreement allowing the player to participate in only two matches and then return early to support his club.

In terms of refereeing, Shikabala stated that the referee was biased against Zamalek despite the team's poor performance, calling for a review of the two penalty claims and comparing one of the incidents in the match to a moment involving Achraf Bencharki in the match against El Sharkia Enppi FC.