Sayed Abdelhafiz, Al Ahly's director of football, spoke about our 2-0 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.

"We managed to win the first game against Sundowns at home, and we still have another 90 minutes to play in Pretoria. Mamelodi Sundowns are a strong team, and we will turn our focus now towards the second leg."

"We managed to keep our net clean tonight, which is very important for us. We will have a 24-hour rest, then we will fly to South Africa on Monday."

"Tonight's game was very tough. However, all the players were determined to win and take a huge step towards the semi-finals."

"We are facing Sundowns for the third consecutive season in the same round. The players were well prepared for the game, besides that we were lucky tonight."

"All the players will get their chance of playing, but in the right time. We miss several players due to them being injured, such as Saad Samir, Hamdy Fathy, and Ali Maaloul. I wish a speedy recovery for them to reinforce our squad."

"We have a lot of young players in the squad who need to gain more experience. Also, some matches need the experienced players, who can deal with these difficult situations."

"We deal with each round in the CAF Champions League separately. Every game has its circumstances, but our goal is to win all the matches."

"Also, I would like to thank Mahmoud El Khatib, Al Ahly president, for his constant support to the coaching staff and the players."

Abdelhafiz concluded by saying that Ali Maaloul and Hamdy Fathy will undergo medical scans on Sunday to check their availability to accompany the team in the journey to South Africa.

Abdelhafiz added that if Fathy and Maaloul missed our game against Mamelodi Sundowns, they will be prepared to participate in the CAF Super Cup match against RS Berkane of Morocco, scheduled on 28 May.