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Al Ahly can compete against Palmeiras after Bayern Munich lessons - El Shenawy
After a promising display against the Bavarians, the Red Devils’ captain is upbeat that his team challenge the Big Green
Mohamed El Shenawy believes Al Ahly can challenge Palmeiras for the Fifa Club World Cup third place medal.
After scaling Al Duhail's second round hurdle thanks to Hussein El Shahat's first-half strike, they squared up against Bayern Munich in the semi-final.
Despite their brave displays against the reigning European kings, they bowed 2-0 at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan – with Robert Lewandowski’s brace sending the Germans into the final.
Nonetheless, Pitso Mosimane’s side will tackle the Brazilian Serie A outfit who bowed 1-0 to Mexico’s Tigres UANL on Thursday evening in their quest to return home with a bronze medal.
Buoyed by their performance against Hans-Dieter Flick’s side, the 32-year-old Egypt international who made a couple of breath-taking saves against the German elite division outfit is positive that his team can challenge Abel Ferreira’s team to end the Club World Cup on a high.
"Don’t forget we were up against the champions of Europe," El Shenawy told Fifa website.
"We played a good game and gave a performance that dignifies Al Ahly and the African continent. We've learned a lot of things in these games.
"After a great game against the European champions, we’re very confident we can compete for third place.
“We’ll head into that game with real desire and solely focused on Palmeiras. It's going to be harder.
"I'm sure our opponents have analysed our matches and already know our strengths and weaknesses, so we have to be very careful in this fixture.”
Qatar are hosts of the 2022 Fifa World Cup and the El Shenawy who represented the Pharaohs at the 2018 edition staged in Russia - where he played two out of three preliminary matches – is looking forward to taking part in the global football showpiece which will be held for the first time in the Middle East.
"Things are going well. The Qatari stadiums are great. I'm optimistic about being here with the Egyptian national team for Qatar 2022,” he continued.
The Club World Cup was initially scheduled to be held in December 2020, but the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic – which crippled football-related activities – saw it moved to February 2021.
