Youssef Belammari Injury Scare for Al Ahly’s Pre-Season

Al Ahly’s bid to reset after a barren season has taken an early jolt, with Moroccan winger Youssef Belammari suffering a knee sprain in a pre-season friendly in Spain on Wednesday.

The Al Ahly first-team player went down during the match against Spanish side Badalona at the municipal “Bosc de Tosca” stadium, one of the Red Devils’ tune-up games ahead of the new campaign.

The club announced through its official channels that Belammari was taken straight to hospital for medical checks and X-rays. The scans will determine the exact nature of the knee injury and how severe it is, before the medical staff decide how long he will be out of training and competitive action.

For now, the diagnosis is limited to a sprain. The real concern lies in what those tests will show: whether Belammari faces a short spell of rest or a longer road of treatment and rehabilitation before he can return to the pitch.

It is an unwelcome worry for a club trying to turn the page. Al Ahly are under pressure to respond after a difficult campaign in which they failed to win a single major title, at home or in Africa. The pre-season camp in Spain is designed to sharpen a squad that fell short on every front.

Belammari only arrived in Cairo in January, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal after his move from Raja Casablanca. He was brought in as part of a wider rebuild, a fresh face meant to inject energy and unpredictability into the attack.

Now Al Ahly wait on scans and medical reports, hoping that one of their key winter investments is not about to start his first full season at the club from the treatment room.