Pyramids FC head coach Krunoslav Jurčić says winning the CAF Champions League can be the final touch of an exceptional season for his squad.
The eccentric Croatian coach who is not afraid to speak his mind cut a more reserved figure with the final evenly poised ahead of the second leg at 30 June Stadium this evening.
With Walid El Karti netting a 94th minute equaliser in the 1-1 result at Loftus Versfeld last week, they still went on to play a league game which they believed could be a title winning 5-1 victory over Ceramica Cleopatra, depending on the ruling at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in a case against Al Ahly.
It showcased the emotional rollercoaster of a season that their 51st match of the 2024/25 campaign, and two more titles on the line, the Champions League and Egypt Cup final against Zamalek this coming week.
“I’m very happy to see so many journalists for our press conference, I know it means we have done a great job – usually we don’t have many in our press conferences, when I saw how many people want tickets for the match, it’s the moment I knew we’ve done a great job,” he said.
“We play Sundowns, in the second leg final against Sundowns, we’re happy to be in the final game of the Champions League, we’re playing a big club, a big team, we respect Sundowns but we respect our results this season.
“What we have done, how we played football, I’m very proud of my guys, an excellent season and now what I want to say, what I say many times in our dressing room; we are Pyramids – we need this cup, we want this gold, this final touch.
“We respect Sundowns, but we playing good football, we will play good football – I expect a tough match but I believe in my guys.”
Jurčić suggested what has been imposed on them this season, has not been fair, but his squad has continued to defy the odds to compete at a high level across all competitions.
“We’re the only club in the world who played league game in between a final of the Champions League, I don’t know in the history of football that some club played a match like this,” he said.
“But we have strong guys, who show many times they can play a match every three days, how we prepared? Not thinking about the first match, it’s 0-0, we start at 0-0 and we prepare the match in this way…
“Normally to play this match of this level, it’s about the control of emotions, when you are a coach of an Egyptian club, it’s people with many emotions, and it’s difficult to keep this under control, I have to try – we have to be ready for a lot of challenges but we have shown this season, we can do this.”
