Carteron criticizes Al-Ahly players despite reaching the final

CAIRO – 24 October 2018: Al-Ahly manager, Patrice Carteron, expressed his discontent with Al-Ahly players’ performance at the last 25 minutes of the game against ES Setif on Tuesday night at the CAF Champions League semi-finals' second leg.

“We had a tough game against a great team and I was worried before the game about the fitness of the international players. We made the same mistakes of the first leg and missed many chances to score,” Carteron told press after the game.

Al-Ahly were leading the game 1-0 thanks to a goal from Walid Soliman after 60 minutes but the host team bounced back with two goals.

Al-Ahly reached the final as they won the first leg in Cairo 2-0.

The manager added “After Soliman’s goal we thought that we already qualified but they bounced back with two goals and created many chances to score. I am happy with the result and with the return of the injured players like Amr el-Solia and Saad Samir.”

Al-Ahly, who won a record of eight CAF Champions League titles, reached the final for the 12th time in their history. Al-Ahly will face Tunisian giants, Esperence, who defeated Angola’s C.D. Primeiro de Agosto 4-2 earlier on Tuesday.