Having failed to retain Wydad Casablanca's status as African champions, the club's head coach has revealed why Al Ahly were able to be triumphant in the CAF Champions League final.
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When Morocco international Yahia Attiyat Allah found the back of the net in the 27th minute, it seemed that Sven Vandenbroeck was destined to achieve a remarkable feat by becoming a winner in Africa's premier club competition a month after taking charge of the Red Castle.
However, that all changed when Mohamed Abdelmonem headed in Ahly's equaliser, with the Egyptian's winning 3-2 on aggregate and extending their record of African titles to 11 championships. Now the Moroccan giants' boss has insisted that the match was closer than the score line suggested.
"I always said that the finals are decided through the small details, and we saw that a corner kick and a free kick from two set-pieces were what determined the winner," Vandenbroeck told members of the media in the post-game press conference, as per KingFut.
"When there is effort, that's the basics of football, and you can be happy, however, both teams were evenly matched, but unfortunately things didn't go in our favor.
"I cannot blame the players because they gave everything they had in Cairo and here in Casablanca.
"Al Ahly raised the pace of the game in search of a goal after the changes they made.
"They were not dangerous, but they had the most possession and we tried to find a balance, but unfortunately the corner kick came, and they scored."
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It was the Cairo-based side's first victory over Wydad in the final of the continental competition in three attempts.
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