Defending champions Al Ahly go into this weekend's second round of the African Champions League seeking a much improved performance.

The Egyptian club were pushed all the way by Oserian Fastrac of Kenya in the first round, scraping through 2-1 on aggregate in an unconvincing display.

Now they have another potential pitfall awaiting them in a derby match with Al Merreikh of Sudan, starting on Friday night in Cairo with the first leg encounter.

Traditionally Sudanese clubs have not been able to get the better of their Egyptian neighbours in African club competition, save for the occasional shock result.

But Al Merreikh do hold the accolade of being the only club from their country to have won an African club prize.

They took the African Cup Winners' Cup more than a decade ago.

Dangerous situation

Their current pedigree was shown in the first round with a relatively comfortable win over Sports Club Villa from Uganda.

Al Merreikh also have the advantage of a home tie in the return leg later this month, adding to the pressure on the defending champions.

Al Ahli were not the only big name side who were far from impressive in the opening round.

Raja Casablanca, who have won the Champions League twice in the last five years, were facing a humbling early exit at the hands of Gambia's Wallidan.

But while they were just able to extricate themselves from a dangerous situation, they now they meet giantkillers Etoile du Congo.

The side from Brazzaville, who last year beat defending champions Hearts of Oak in the first round, have this year already upset Cameroon's Cotonsport.

Rewards

Orlando Pirates were another side that were in danger of tripping up last month.

But they will not be able to afford to do the same again as they face a difficult tie against TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Both the South African club and Mazembe are past winners, but one will not be progressing to the last eight of this year's Champions League, where the rich rewards of the competition await the qualifiers.

It is only the eight teams that make the league format of the competition who share in almost $4 million's worth of prize money.

This makes losing in the second round so heartbreaking for the losing teams.