It will be a crunch weekend in the CAF Champions League group stage for Egyptian giants Zamalek and Al Ahly, as they seek to recover from their opening group stage defeats and put their continental campaigns back on track.

Zamalek were thrashed 3-0 at DR Congo giants TP Mazembe last weekend, leaving them at the bottom of Group A and with yet another new coach after sacking former Orlando Pirates mentor Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic. The White Knights will be eager to bounce back when they host Angola’s Primeiro de Agosto in Cairo on Saturday evening.

Ahly will be in action on Friday night, hosting Sudan’s Al Hilal. While the Red Devils were narrowly beaten 1-0 in Tunisia by Etoile du Sahel last weekend, the Blue Wave opened their Group B campaign with a 2-1 home win over FC Platinum to sit at the top of the group and head to Cairo with their tails up.

Friday also features DR Congo’s AS Vita and Moroccan side Raja CA meeting in Kinshasa in a crunch bottom-of-the-log clash in Group D, while the pool’s other match is a North African derby which sees title holders Esperance de Tunis hosting Algeria’s JS Kabylie at the Olympic Stadium in Rades.

Saturday is headlined by the renewal of the spicy rivalry between Wydad Casablanca and South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns. The teams have been regular combatants (sometimes literally) in recent years and the latest edition of their feud is a Group C night match at Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca.

The day opens with two afternoon matches, as Zimbabwe’s FC Platinum chase an upset Group B win at home to Tunisian giants Etoile in Bulawayo, at the same time that Petro de Luanda host USM Alger in a Group C battle at Estadio 11 de Novembro, while the Ravens of TP Mazembe will take the relatively short trip from Lubumbashi to Ndola to face Zambian giants Zesco United in an early-evening Group A match.

CAF Champions League fixtures, 6-7 December

Friday 6 December

17:00: AS Vita v Raja Casablanca – Group D
20:00: Al Ahly v Al Hilal – Group B
20:00: Esperance de Tunis v JS Kabylie – Group D

Saturday 7 December

14:00: FC Platinum v Etoile du Sahel – Group B
14:00: Petro de Luanda v USM Alger – Group C
17:00: Zesco United v TP Mazembe – Group A
17:00: Zamalek v Primeiro de Agosto – Group A
20:00: Wydad Casablanca v Mamelodi Sundowns – Group C