كتب : Karim Farouk
"My players weren’t at their best and they lost their concentration during the last 20 minutes what cost us a lot," said the Portuguese coach.
The African champions looked set for a comfortable victory after a goal in each half from Mohamed Barakat and Amado Flavio put them in front but then they totally lost their pace and got their lead cancelled in only 10 minutes.
The turning point was when midfielder Hossam Ashour came in for striker Emad Meteb.
"I don’t know what happened but since he came in it seemed we were playing only with 10 men on the field," added angrily Jose who confirmed that there will be a lot of sanctions on some players who lost such an easy chance of securing a place in the last eight.
Igesund: We could have won with more luck
On the other hand Sundowns Manager Gordon Igesund blamed luck for the draw.
"With more luck we could have this game. We created a lot of chances. Anyway we got a second chance and we’ll have to go to Egypt to win there.
"It’s in our hands and I think we proved to ourselves that they can easily be beaten."
The second leg will be played in Cairo on April 20th.