Al Ahly recorded a 3-0 victory over Medeama in their opening CAF Champions League group stage clash on Saturday evening.
There was no place in the starting eleven for Bafana Bafana international Percy Tau, who was named on the bench.
It was an explosive start from the defending champions who had a close-range header from Mahmoud Kahraba come off the crossbar on three minutes.
The sustained level of pressure continued in which Emam Ashour and Karim Fouad launched promising efforts that caused worrying signs for the visitors.
Medeama's first sight to goal followed as Joshua Agyemang got the cleverest of space in behind to pull in a shot, but he wasn't able to get anything on target.
Ahly enjoyed a solid finish to the first half with Hussein El Shahat, Ashour and Fouad getting in shots one after the other though still failed to rattle the net.
The resumption saw the visitors from the region of West Africa exert some pressure of their own with Agyemang again closing in after a neat spell of play.
Ahly, though, were keen to maintain the strong hold all-round as Ashour combined with El Shahat's through pass to drew a save from Felix Kyei.
Tau stepped on the park midway following the second half and replaced Fouad to liven up the record holders' quest for the opener.
On the other end, Ahly maintained the reviving energy and were rewarded when a corner from Ashour saw Kahraba take hold to nod beyond Kyei.
El Shahat, who had a stern display effort paid dividends when he doubled their lead in the final 165 minutes through a well-taken shot.
Ahly ensured the win after Salah Mohsen got ahead of a cross from Mohamed Magdy Afsha and nodded in to record an emphatic opening day victory in the group stages.
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