AmaZulu defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele has attributed Kaizer Chiefs‘ 2021 CAF Champions League final defeat to mainly inexperience.
Chiefs made it into the final of Africa’s premier inter-club competition at the height of Covid-19 and in a season that a lot of people gave them no chance due to a transfer ban which prevented the club from signing players.
Gavin Hunt had guided the side through the stages but was fired right before the final with Stuart Baxter returning to oversee the final against giants Al Ahly.
‘Rama’ went down memory lane about that final with iDiski Times senior writer Matshelane Mamabolo in edition 205 of the newspaper.
“It was also chaotic because we had Gavin Hunt as the coach, and then he was strangely fired even though we were doing well,” Mphahlele told iDiski Times.
“Then Arthur Zwane took over, and he was doing well, but they got rid of him too and replaced him with Stuart Baxter. We played the final over just one leg in what they said was neutral Casablanca, but we felt it was too close to Egypt.
“Of course, there was no crowd, but the environment and conditions were much similar to those that Ahly are used to. Stuart was a very structured coach, and we had a solid plan going into the match. We were a young team against highly experienced opposition, so it was always going to be difficult.
“We started well, but we then went a man down [Happy Mashiane got sent off], and that changed everything in their favour. When they scored, we tried our best to get back into it, but they were just too strong for us.”
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