Koller: Injuries will not affect Al Ahly

Al Ahly Coach Marcel Koller

Saturday Mar 04, 2023. 15:00

Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller has backed his side to cope with the absence of key players when they face Coton Sport in the CAF Champions League on Saturday evening.

The Red Eagles will play their catch-up game in Group B against the Cameroon champions which had to be postponed due to their participation in the Club World Cup last month.

Koller will be without right-back Khaled Abdel Fattah, centre-back Mahmoud Metwally, midfielder Amr El Solia and wingers Hussein El Shahat and Ahmed Abdel Kader for the match 1 encounter.

However, the Swiss tactician is confident in his squad’s ability to cover for the injured quintet as the 10-time African champions go in search of their first win in the group stages.

“I don’t think that Ahly will be affected by the absence of injured players. We have great players in our squad. Plus, Bruno Savio and Ayman Ashraf have returned to trainings,” Koller said in his pre-match press conference.

The Egyptian giants are third in the group after collecting just one point from their opening two group games but Koller stated that they have plenty of time to turn the situation around, with 12 points still to play for.

“We didn’t achieve the best result against [Mamelodi] Sundowns. But we still have four games in the group stage. We will concentrate on winning them,” he added.