Ahly boss Hossam Al-Badri held his team’s rearguard responsible for Friday’s 2-0 loss at Ittihad of Lybia in the CAF Champions League round of 16.
Younes Al-Shibani and Ahmed Zuway capitalized on the Red Devils’ defensive lapses to head both goals and seal a staggering victory for the hosts.
Ahly’s defeat was mainly put down to Al-Badri’s inability to employ a suitable formation but the under-fire coach refused to take the blame and cited the Cairo giants’ slack defense.
"Ittihad’s both goals were scored because of our defenders’ recurrent mistakes," he told Ahly’s official website.
"This is a serious problem that we have to address as soon as possible."
Although he admitted Ahly’s backline incompetence, Al-Badri believes his men shouldn’t have slumped to a defeat.
"At least we should have salvaged a draw," he added. "The result doesn’t really reflect both teams’ displays.
"We were superior in terms of ball possession, we had no luck though.
"Our frontline carved out a host of clear-cut scoring chances but the execution was always poor."
Al-Badri is convinced that the six-time African champions are capable of overturning their two-goal deficit and advance to the Champions League group stage.
"Impossible is nothing for Ahly," he stated. "The second leg is what really matters. Our fans will be playing a major role."
Ahly need to beat Ittihad by a three-goal margin in Cairo in order to qualify for the next round.
After Friday’s game, Ahly said they were annoyed by a laser beam aimed by Ittihad of Libya fans on keeper Ahmed Adel.
"The home fans tried to unsettle Adel and affect his concentration by targeting him with a laser beam," Ahly’s football director Hadi Khashaba said on the club’s official website after the game.
"We already informed the referee before the game that we were worried about that.
"We asked the match commissioner to include the incident in his match report."
Ahly also said that central defender Wael Gomaa needed four stitches in his head after being hit with a stone thrown by Ittihad fans after the game.
"This was an inexplicable behavior from Ittihad supporters," Ahly said in another statement on their website.
"The stones also injured midfielder Mohamed Barakat. We asked the match commissioner to report those incidents to (African governing body) CAF."
The Red Devils face possible exit from the competition’s preliminary rounds for the second successive season after conceding two goals from corners at the packed June 11 Stadium in Libya.
Last year, Ahly couldn’t go past the Champions League round of 16 after losing to Nigeria’s Kano Pillars.
