Al Ahly coach Marcel Koller is keeping it simple no penalties, just victory.
As Al Ahly gear up to face Mamelodi Sundowns in Friday’s CAF Champions League semi-final second leg, the Swiss manager made his intentions clear: win in regular time and advance.
The goalless first leg in Pretoria has left everything to play for, and Koller believes playing in Cairo gives his side an edge. With home support behind them, he’s banking on the crowd to push Al Ahly over the line.
Koller is counting on a strong performance from his players, who, he says, are fully aware of the stakes. The team has one mission, to score and seal their place in the final without needing extra time or a shootout.
“We have a specific goal tomorrow, which is to win and we don’t want to reach a positive draw that favours the opponent or a negative draw that takes us to the penalty shootout, so we will play to win and qualify,” he said.
He acknowledges the threat posed by Sundowns but remains focused on Al Ahly’s approach. Confident in his squad and in goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, Koller is steering the narrative toward control and clarity, win outright and avoid the unpredictability of penalties.
“I know that Sundowns are a strong team, we want to make the fans happy and we don’t care much about the previous results of the two teams because our focus is only on tomorrow’s game.
“Penalty kicks have special calculations, and yes, Sundowns’ goalkeeper is special, but we have a great goalkeeper in Mohamed El Shinawy, who has saved many kicks, and I expect the opponent to perform strongly,”
