Koller bemoans poor first-half display from Al Ahly

by Staff Reporter

Sunday Mar 12, 2023. 11:00

Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller admitted his side were deserved losers on Saturday after being crushed 5-2 by Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld on matchday 4 in the CAF Champions League.

The Red Eagles got off to the worst possible start in Pretoria, South Africa when Marcelo Allende gave the Brazilians a fourth-minute lead before Mohamed Sherif restored parity nine minutes later.

However, the visitors struggled to impose themselves on the match and went into the break 3-1 down after Themba Zwane (24′) and Teboho Mokoena (40′) struck again for Bafana ba Style.

Percy Tau (61′) managed to pull one back early in the second half but a brace from Peter Shalulile (72′, 88′) wrapped up a comfortable win for Sundowns, who reclaimed top spot in Group B.

The 10-time African champions need to beat Coton Sport and Al Hilal in their final two group games to stand a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals as they trail the Blue Wave by five points in third place.

Commenting on the performance of his players, Koller said: “They (Sundowns) deserved to win today because we were really poor in the first half.

“We took a little risk and pushed forward in the second half to try and get back in the game and we were punished on the break. Sundowns took advantage of the counters and scored and that made things more complicated for us.”