Al Ahly director of football Sayed Abdel-Hafiz has said his team is well prepared to take Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2020/2021 CAF Champions League quarter-final second leg clash set to be played at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.
The Club of the Century will be chasing for a double against the Brazilians following their 2-0 win in the first leg played in Cairo last weekend.
Abdel-Hafiz said they are well prepared for the clash and are ready to upset the Brazilians, where a last-four ticket will be in their pockets if they register a win, draw or lose by one goal.
“We came to South Africa with full motives to face Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday,” Abdel-Hafiz told the club website.
“In football, you have to forget about the past and only think about the future.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“We forgot about the first leg’ result. Our focus is now turned towards Saturday’s match to secure our qualification to the CAF Champions League semi-final.”[/perfectpullquote]
Sundowns face a daunting task of battling past the Red Eagles and continue with their pursuit of a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Al Ahly held second training session where they carried an intense training game ahead of Saturday encounter where head coach Pitso Mosimane where focused on several tactical points that he wants to be implemented during game.
Defender Ali Maaloul, who is in his second phase of his recovery programme, took part in the training session.
Maaloul performed several recovery drills and ran around the pitch, aside from the team’s training session.
He had undergone a medical scan before travelling with the team to South Africa after a scan performed in Cairo showed that the player’s hamstring healed completely.
However, Maaloul is not expected to be part of the match as the head of Al Ahly’s medical staff Dr. Ahmed Abu Abla stated that he finds it difficult for the defender to play but he expect s him to be ready for to play in the CAF Super Cup on May 28 in Qatar.
The Tunisian international picked a hamstring injury while playing for Al Ahly in the previous FIFA Club World Cup.
