Al-Ahly are preparing to lodge a complaint against JS Kabylie with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) due to what happened during their match against Kabylie in Algeria in the African Champions League (ACL) on Sunday night, the local media reported on Tuesday.
Ahly, who lost 1-0 to the Algerian side, were stoned by some Algerian fans on their way to training. Osama Hosni of the Egyptian side was injured by a stone. After Al-Ahly’s equaliser was disallowed, Algerian police attacked the players on the pitch, punching Wael Gomaa in the face.
Meanwhile, Ahly’s coach Hossam el-Badri blamed his side’s loss at JS Kabylie on the home fans’ misconduct and the referee.
“The pressure we were under before the game definitely took its toll on the players,” he told Egyptian TV channel Nile Sport. “Kabylie’s officials warmly received us in Algeria, but their supporters’ behaviour negatively affected us. The referee’s decisions were also unfair.
For instance, he handed [Ahly midfielder] Hossam Ghali a straight red card for no apparent reason.” It was the Red Devils first defeat in Algeria since 1988; what made it worse was the ugly brawl towards the end of the clash on Sunday. Al-Ahly appeared to have snatched a valuable equaliser when substitute Mohamed Shawqi struck home with four minutes remaining.
The goal, however, was correctly ruled out for offside, but a free-for-all erupted afterwards between Ahly players and the stadium’s security personnel. Punches and kicks flew from both sides for no apparent reason, with some Kabylie players also involved in the unfortunate incident. The match, which was preceded by an attack on Ahly’s bus on Saturday, was halted for around eight minutes.
The Cairo side’s bus was stoned once again after the match, to further inflame the feelings of Ahly’s supporters. The second match will be held in Cairo on August 29. In related news, a couple of Egyptian programmers hacked into JS Kabylie’s official website on Monday night, in the wake of both teams’ ill-tempered meeting in the CAF Champions League.
The hackers posted the Egyptian flag on the homepage as well as the Red Devils’ logo and the slogan ‘Ahly are above all’. They also left a message in French which reads: “The site has been hacked by Egyptian hackers.
The keyboard is my weapon and I will use it to defend all Egyptians’ rights.” They also accused the referee of being biased. Officials from Egypt and Algeria have been trying to defuse tensions caused by soccer violence during World Cup qualifiers between the two countries’ national teams last November.
