Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller says their reaction towards the Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) after having a goal disallowed was to make sure it was the correct decision, which he admitted, it was.
Ahly had a goal scored in the second half, which stunned Mamelodi Sundowns and the home supporters at Loftus Versfeld for a brief moment, before it was correctly adjudged to have been offside.
However, the technical team reacted wildly with several players pointing to VAR and the fourth official, but he aknowledged it may have been just a last throw of the dice to get something out of the cagey affair in Tshwane.
“I was happy that we scored the goal, it’s nice to have this system VAR, it was correct, it was off-side, I know, and the referee did well to not allow this goal,” Koller said.
“My reaction was this way [asking for it to be checked] I wanted the referee to see it again and this to check if it was really offside or not with this line – and if they did that, they will have the good chance to make the decision, it’s okay.”
The record 12-time African Champions will be aiming to secure their place in the final for a six consecutive season with a victory in Cairo for the return leg semi-final against Sundowns on Friday.
