Al Ahly's director of football has claimed that they are coming to South Africa with only one goal in their mind as they prepare to face Mamelodi Sundowns this coming weekend.
Tau Features As Al Ahly Secure First CAF CL Win
On Saturday, the Club of the Century secured their first three points of this CAF Champions League campaign with a 3-0 triumph over Cameroonian outfit Coton Sports.
The win puts the Egyptians back in the hunt to progress from the group stage, having first lost to Al Hilal in Khartoum before drawing with Masandawana at home.
Marcel Koller's charges are now three points behind the reigning DStv Premiership champions in Group B, and on Saturday will look to erase Sundowns' lead at the top of the group when they take on the Pretoria-based outfit at Loftus Versfeld.
While another draw against Rulani Mokwena's men would not be catastrophic, Al Ahly's director of football Sayed Abdel-Hafiz has insisted that a win is of the essence.
"An essential win at a crucial time. We had no choice but to win after the Al Hilal loss and then drawing with Sundowns," he said after the Coton Sport win, as per KingFut.
"The Coton game was challenging in light of the group's circumstances, but the qualification is still in our hands.
"In the last three Champions Leagues that we won (2013, 2020, and 2021), we faced the same difficulties in the group stage, and despite that, we qualified in the end.
"For example, in 2013, there were difficult circumstances, and had Zamalek with us in the same group, and we draw in the opening game, and then lost to Orlando, but we qualified.
"The next Sundowns game, we will go with only one goal, which is to achieve a positive result, but we hope that we can pick up a win, because it will put us in another place."
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Last season, Sundowns were able to defeat Al Ahly home and away in the group stage, but it was the Egyptian side that was able to reach the final.
The South African outfit will be hoping to make it to only their third competition final in the 2022/23 edition.
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