Al Ahly’s head coach, Marcel Koller, remains optimistic that his team will reach the knockout stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League despite Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Belouizdad.
Noufel Khacef’s strike in the first minute of stoppage time sealed the win for the Algerian side, ending Al Ahly’s remarkable 27-match unbeaten streak in the competition.
The result marked Belouizdad’s first-ever win over the Egyptian champions in their six encounters and revitalized their chances in the group.
“We can compensate and qualify for the quarter-finals in the next two rounds, whether against Ivorian club Stade d’Abidjan outside Egypt, or against South African club Orlando Pirates in Cairo,” Kohler said.
Reflecting on the match, the Swiss acknowledged the competitive nature of the game and the timing of Belouizdad’s decisive goal.
“We haven’t lost in the Champions League for a long time; we played a strong match against a team that plays good football and in front of their fans. The match was very competitive,” he noted.
“Belouizdad didn’t create many chances but scored the goal at a very difficult time in the last minutes. Al Ahly played the match in a different style than the third-round match, which the team won 6-1.”
Kohler admitted that Al Ahly were not at their best against Belouizdad.
“We didn’t perform as required and we lost the ball a lot, which led to the loss,” he admitted.
“We will learn from the lesson well in order to create new motivations for the coming period, and the defeat did not change the group’s position much because we are in the lead,” he explained.
Al Ahly’s next fixtures include an away match against Stade d’Abidjan and a home game against Orlando Pirates, where they aim to secure their place in the quarter-finals.