Pitso Mosimane has insisted his side want a positive result in their CAF Champions League semi-final first leg in Tunisia to strengthen their chances of defending their title.
Al Ahly who could meet Kaizer Chiefs in a potential final face Tunisian giants Esperance away from home at 18:00, SA time, on Saturday.
The ‘Club of the Century’ are the record champions in the competition and are meeting Esperance for a 17th time, making it the competition’s most-played fixture since 1997.
Mosimane, though, knows how important the clash will be for Al Ahly’s fans but insisted his side will take nothing for granted in Tunisia on Saturday.
“I respect Esperance and their coach, but Al Ahly came to Tunisia in order to achieve a positive result, and to continue defending the CAF Champions League title,” he said during his pre-match press conference, as per Kingfut.
“We all know the importance of this match, and everyone knows the history of the Esperance and Al Ahly clashes.
“The match is technically difficult, and we have all respect for the Esperance team. We are aware of their experiences and popularity in Tunisia, and we respect all our competitors because humility is a very important thing, and this is what we always do.
“Al Ahly have great experience in the CAF Champions League as well, and always strives to win titles, in order to delight their fans, who are not satisfied with anything else.
“I respect the coach of Esperance, but we are Al Ahly and we have obligations towards the fans and history in order to always compete for the title.
“We are like soldiers in front of our fans, always striving to make them happy with titles.”
Mosimane also insisted that the tie will be decided over two legs and even if his side would concede in Tunisia.
“Winning the semi-finals on aggregate is our goal, noting that the football game has several possibilities, the most important of which is not conceding goals and working on scoring, and this is what we are focusing on now,” the South African tactician added.
“We are good at dealing with all possibilities anyway, and the issue of conceding is not a criterion for qualification, and the most important thing in the matter is to achieve the goal we seek, with the whistle at the end of the return match in Cairo.
“Conceding goals does not mean the end of the world.”
