Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller spoke about his team’s draw against Algeria’s CR Belouizdad in the CAF Champions League on Friday, February 16th.
The match between Al Ahly and CR Belouizdad ended in a goalless draw, securing Al Ahly’s position at the top of Group D in the CAF Champions League with six points.
During the press conference, Koller said: “We haven’t reached optimal readiness because we haven’t played any matches for six weeks, and the international players arrived late from the Africa Cup of Nations.
“In contrast, Belouizdad consistently plays in the Algerian league and they prepared better for today, their performance was better than ours.”
He continued, praising the Algerian team’s abilities, stating: “Belouizdad is excellent, they played elegant football, they’re fast and strong, and I was aware of that before the match, hence I’m good with today’s draw.
“We have two games left in the group, our goal is to win them and qualify at the top, but it won’t be easy, as we face a tough match against Medeama away next week.
“We don’t have official matches during this period, so we’ll try to prepare the team for the challenging encounter in the best possible way. The last match will be like a final and we’ll strive to qualify at the top as we used to.”
For the first time, Al Ahly has drawn in three consecutive matches in the CAF Champions League since the 2012-2013 season, when they drew in four consecutive matches.
For the third consecutive season, Al Ahly settled for just one win in the first three rounds of the group stage of the CAF Champions League.
Al Ahly extended their lead to six points at the top of the group, followed by Young Africans and CR Belouizdad with five points each, while Medeama sits at the bottom with four points; next Friday, Al Ahly visits Medeama in the fifth round.
