Wydad Casablanca have suffered a massive blow ahead of the crunch second leg of the African Football League final against Mamelodi Sundowns.
This coming Sunday will be a momentous occasion in the history of African club football as either one of Wydad or Sundowns will be crowned the AFL's first-ever champions.
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The Moroccans head into the encounter at Loftus Versfeld with the advantage after their narrow 2-1 victory in Casablanca last weekend.
It appears, however, that Adil Ramzi will need to negotiate the titanic tussle without their talisman Yahya Jabrane following the club captain's latest booking.
The accumulation of yellow cards by the Morocco international means he will be unavailable for the second leg, leaving the Red Castle with a massive hole in the middle of the park.
According to Hiba Press, because Ramzi wants a player who can fulfil his skipper's role of intercepting balls and moving them quickly to the opposition's defensive areas, as well as a player who is also good at fighting for balls in the air, the 32-year-old tactician is going to have to choose between first-leg goalscorer Anas Serrhat and Oussama Mahrous to deputise for Jabrane.
The three-time African champions have never won in Tshwane, but fortunately for them the onus will be on Masandawana to find the back of the net as the Moroccans head in the match with a slender one goal advantage.
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There is little doubt they would have preferred to have Jabrane at their disposal, as he was the lynchpin for Wydad when they managed their famous 2-2 draw with Sundowns the last time faced each other in the South African capital in the CAF Champions League in May this year.
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