Al ahly defender khaled abdelfattah has revealed that the players want to face Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2023 CAF champions league final.
Cairo giants Al Ahly have reached the 2023 CAF Champions League final after beating Tunisian outfit Espérance Sportive de Tunis 4-0 on aggregate.
Having won the first-leg comfortably in Rades 3-0, Al Ahly managed to win 1-0 in Cairo, thanks to Hussein El-Shahat's first-half winner.
The ten-time African champions will now look for their 11th title in their 16th final appearance against either Wydad Casablanca or Mamelodi Sundowns.
But it looks like the Al Ahly players have their eyes set on the South African giants as they want to take revenge for the 5-2 defeat in the group stages.
Speaking after the game, Khaled Abdelfattah said: The match against Esperance was tough because of the 3-0 result in the first leg.
“Such results are always deceptive and make you feel like you've made it to the final, but we were in a state of intense concentration throughout the game, and that helped us secure qualification to the final.
“As players, we want to face Mamelodi Sundowns in the final to make up for the defeat that happened in South africa.
“I always heard that the atmosphere is tough in South Africa, and I can now confirm that.
“We felt the lack of oxygen, and during warm-ups, we felt shortness of breath, high temperature, and extremely difficult conditions,” he added.
This marks Al Ahly's fourth consecutive CAF Champions League final, having reached the final in the previous three editions, winning two of them.
This also means Al Ahly matched their record under Portuguese manager manuel jose, when they achieved the same feat between 2005 to 2008.
Moreover, the club has now also reached the final for the sixth time in the last seven years, missing out only on the 2019 final.
