Al Ahly coach Mosimane reacts after first defeat in 23 games

Bayern Munich has handed Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane his first defeat in 23 games since arriving at the club after Monday’s 2-0 defeat at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Qatar in the Fifa Club World Cup semi-finals.

Reacting after the match, coach Mosimane admitted his team was beaten by “superior” opponents.

Ace striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice to sealed Bayern’s dominant display and ended Al Ahly’s 23 matches unbeaten run under the ex-Mamelodi Sundowns coach.

“I don’t know if there’s any coach who looks happy after he loses the match. It’s my first defeat‚ ever since I’ve been Ahly for the last four‚ five months‚” said Mosimane as per Times Live.

“So you’ve got to understand how I feel. And I hate losing. We prepared hard for this game. And to lose … is a bitter pill on those [preparations]‚ even though we have to accept that we played Bayern.

“You’re saying we are scared – I don’t know about that word. But I will respect your opinion. But we are not scared. We just played against a big team that pushed us back.

“It’s not to say we want to stay back – they pushed us back. And you have to accept that‚ when you play against a superior team. You can never be opening your midfield and a free flow to go and score the goals. This is the team that put eight goals against Barcelona.

“So we are not scared. We are playing the proper football and we thought maybe we would get one chance before the 80th minute‚ and maybe we can get something in the second half and then we can risk it. But we are not scared – sorry.”

Al Ahly will next play Copa Libertadores champions Palmeiras in the third-place match on Thursday.