Cape Town - The 10-time CAF Champions League title-holders are on the brink of losing out on a slot in the knock-out phase after Mamelodi Sundowns scored a crushing 5-2 win at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams have played four Group B matches to date and log-leaders Sundowns, with 10 points have already for the knock-out phase. Al Ahly have a meagre four points and are in third place. Al Hilal with three wins on the trot are in second place with nine points.
Al Ahly's coach Marcel Koller feels that his side's slim hopes of reaching the knock-out stage rest on Sundowns defeating Al Hilal if the Egyptians manage to win their remaining two games.
Mamelodi Sundowns outclass Al Ahly 5-2 to go five points clear of their rivals in Group B 🟡#TotalEnergiesCAFCL pic.twitter.com/XWpv3n82sq
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) March 11, 2023
It might happen that since Sundowns have already advanced, they could field a weakened team in their remaining group games and select a team of second-stringers as they did in a Premiership against Stellenbosch recently.
"I hope that Sundowns will play the next two games fairly, as we know to be," said Koller. "For I can't answer the question about qualifying.
"Congratulations to Sundowns and they earned their win today.
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"We played a very bad first half and we started the second half at 3-1. We wanted to take a risk to score goals and get back into the game but Sundowns used the counter well and score more goals.
"It made our chances of qualifying much harder. Sundowns played well but I can say we were better in the second half.
"The first half was not how we wanted to play as a team."
@Herman_Gibbs