Al-Badri underlines 'midfield dominance'

The Red Devils downed the Whites 3-1 in the Egyptian Cup round of 16 on Wednesday to set up a quarter-final meeting with Petrojet.

Al-Badri gave himself some credit by referring to Ahli's strategy, which from his perspective led the Egyptian champions to victory.

"We piled up pressure on Zamalek till we got the upper hand," he explained. "Deploying three holding midfielder helped us take control of the game.

"I told Hossam Ashour to position himself behind Shehab Ahmed and Ahmed Hassan, who both became able to freely advance forward and gave us midfield dominance."

Hussein Yasser put Zamalek ahead only after 42 seconds before Abdul-Fadil, Mohamed Fadl and Mohamed Abou-Treika scored for Ahli.

Experience

Al-Badri is convinced that his men's experience was behind the comeback.

"The experience factor helped us overturn the goal deficit," he added.

"I'm really satisfied with the result but I'm happier with the performance."