Pitso Mosimane, our head coach, spoke to the press on Friday at Al Ahly Stadium, before Saturday’s match against ES Setif in the first leg of the CAF Champions League semis.

The coach stated that we are facing a tough team that succeeded to knock Esperance out of the competition in the quarter-finals and we should be focused to achieve what we want from the game.

“We are back to the big stage of the Champions League. Big game against ES Setif, the team that eliminated Esperance (in the quarter-finals) and that shows the kind of opponent that we are playing against.”

“They didn’t defeat Esperance in Algeria but they did it in Tunisia. The team is fearless. They play strong and attack home and away.”

“They are a well-coached team. Their goalkeeper is super, in relation to the games we’ve watched.”

“We do our homework and follow our principles with my tactical team. I’ve been working with them for the past 8 years. We respect our opponent and we look at a number of games they played and we also look on their individual players.”

“History sometimes plays a role and other times not. If you see the history of Real Madrid, it plays a role. They are a big club that won the champions league many times. If you go to Bayern when they played Villarreal, history didn’t play a role. I just believe in what is happening on the pitch.”

“Small details matter. Al Ahly have been in the semi-finals many times. We know how to play those kind of games. So, I expect my team to use their experience in tomorrow’s game. We have no excuses.”