Marcel Koller confident of Al Ahly reaching Champions League knockout stages

The Egyptian giants, who have won the tournament a record ten times, began their campaign with a 1-0 loss to Al Hilal in Sudan. They now face a tough match against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

"It's going to be a challenging match for us. We are aware that Mamelodi Sundowns is a very strong team," Koller said. "However, we are also a strong team, as we demonstrated in our first game. We are confident that we will achieve a good outcome on Saturday."

Koller went on to state that the team has shown significant improvement since he took over six months ago, with strong performances in the Club World Cup and the Egyptian Premier League.

"We played well in the game against Sundowns, but the results were not satisfactory for us," he added. "However, we have grown with our performances, and we will continue to improve."

The match against Sundowns will be critical for Al Ahly, who are looking to redeem themselves after their disappointing start to the tournament. Koller will undoubtedly be relying on his experienced squad, including captain Mohamed El-Shenawy, to lead the way.

"We have full faith in our players," Koller said. "We are a team with a great history, and we will fight until the very end to achieve our goals."