Monday 27/October/2025 – 01:34 AM
Hisham Hanafi, the former Al-Ahly club star, spoke about the Red Giant’s qualification to the group stage of the African Champions League after defeating Burundi’s Eagle Noir with a clean goal.
Statements by Hisham Hanafi
Hisham Hanafi said in television statements: Certainly Al-Ahly’s victory and qualification for the group stage is a good thing, but Gradishar’s expulsion was strange and the ball does not rise to a completely red card.
Hisham Hanafi added: I support Al-Ahly’s decision to file a grievance against the Senegalese referee due to the expulsion of Gradishar, because the ball does not rise to expulsion completely, and the Reds must preserve the rights of their players, because the Red League is the master of Africa and the championship without him has no taste.
The former Al-Ahly star continued: Teams that are weak at the technical level are always random, and do not know how to play, and therefore these matches are difficult.
Hisham Hanafi continued: Pyramids’ draw in the African Champions League against Ethiopian Insurance made the fans say that the result was due to stress, but not everyone said this about Al-Ahly and that it played a weak match against Aigle Noir despite its victory, and Al-Samawi played without pressure and without fans.
Hisham Hanafi confirmed: Torop decided to try a large number of players against Aigle Noir due to the ease of confrontation and the opponent, and the coach wants to put his hand on the level of all the Red players in order to stabilize the team’s formation in the upcoming matches.
The former Red Star continued: Torop has led Al-Ahly in three matches so far and succeeded in winning all three matches, and this is a good thing for the coach, although it is still early to judge him.
Hisham Hanafi concluded: Al-Ahly is currently on the rise, and succeeded in returning to the top of the Egyptian Premier League standings and came back from afar, and also succeeded in reaching the group stage of the Champions League.
