Africain fans invaded the pitch, assaulted referee Koman Coulibaly and caused major damages in the Rades Stadium as the Tunisian club looked set to wave goodbye to the competition from the round of 16.

The scenes evoked memories of Zamalek fans’ infamous behavior in the round of 32 tie against Africain, after which Hassan was accused of fuelling the fire that led to the incident with his pre-match comments.

“When I learnt about what Africain fans had done, I thanked God and felt that my right has come back to me,” the outspoken Hassan told FilGoal.com.

“I want to ask those who blamed me for what happened in Cairo, Am I the one who forced Africain fans to do what they’ve done to their own stadium?”

Best replacement

Hassan believes that Africain should be disqualified from the Confederation Cup following the incident, urging CAF to call Zamalek instead.

“I know that a huge sanction awaits Africain, including the disqualification from the Confederation Cup, which is the fair decision in my opinion,” he added.

“In that case, I think Zamalek would the best replacement.

“During our match with them, we protected their players along with the match referee from the invading fans.

“But they didn’t do that in the Hilal game, they instead left the referee in the hands of the angry supporters.”