CAIRO: Al Ahly boss Manuel Jose praised his players performance throughout the Egyptian League derby, which saw his side grab a 1-0 victory over Zamalek on Monday.
The Portuguese coach said that his team held on well to their first half lead, especially after Al Ahly skipper Shadi Mohamed missed a penalty shortly after the interval.
Our stability after the penalty miss was crucial, we were in control before it, but missing a penalty at such a stage could be a turning point in favor of the opposition, the Ahly manager said.
I was glad to see that our defense did not lose concentration, and on the contrary, we managed to remain focused and maintain possession.
I think it’s a deserved victory, although I believe Zamalek played a fine game.
Zamalek manager Ruud Krol was disappointed by his side s display, particularly in the first half, which he described to be “clumsy .
We were playing clumsily in the first half, we lacked communication and some of our players were almost absent from the game, said the Dutchman.
Unlike previous matches, our defense did not seem to be in good shape, mistakes at the back gave Al Ahly room to score and then win a penalty.
Zamalek defensive trio Ahmed Magdi, Mahmoud Fathallah and Karim Zekri made their Cairo derby debut with the Whites, and Krol believes they looked nervous against a stable Al Ahly team.
We had more than one player facing Al Ahly for the first time, on the other hand, our opponents have an unchanged line-up for almost four seasons, he added.
