Koller: El Solia gives us more fluidity in midfield

Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller is delighted to have Amr El Solia available again after the midfielder made his first appearance of the season in the 1-1 draw with Young Africans last weekend.

The Egypt international missed the opening three months of the campaign with a muscular injury, but made his comeback as a second-half substitute against Yanga in the CAF Champions League on Saturday.

Koller’s side created numerous chances at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium before Percy Tau eventually broke the deadlock four minutes from time, although they were pegged back in stoppage time by an equaliser from Pacome Zouzoua.

Koller is hoping El Solia can exert his influence the team against CR Belouizdad on Friday at the Borg El Arab Stadium after admitting he gave the midfield more fluidity in the final 21 minutes of their clash with the Tanzanian giants.

“I’m happy with El Solia’s return because he’s one of our most experienced players in the team and he gave us more fluidity in midfield when he came on,” the Swiss tactician said.

Koller also insisted that the defending African champions need to work on their finishing after squandering several goalscoring opportunities in Dar-es-Salaam.

“We had so many chances to score in the first half but unfortunately we couldn’t convert them,” he added.

“There was some improvement in the second half as we had more control and created more chances but it wasn’t enough in the end.”