Al Ahly coach José Peseiro has stated that a club with the calibre of the Red Devils can only be compared to Real Madrid, during his official presentation as the club’s new manager on Sunday.
The Portuguese coach has been appointed as Al Ahly coach on a one year contract following the sacking of former manager Fathi Mabrouk who lost the domestic title to arch rivals Zamalek and got knocked out of CAF Confederations Cup against Orlando Pirates.
“Al Ahly can only be compared to Real Madrid, I’ve only seen this kind of media attention at the Spanish club,” Peseiro said in the press conference.
Peseiro said that he’s aware of the popularity of Al Ahly in the Middle East and Africa and promised the fans to exert all his efforts to help the club win championships.
“I accepted this challenge after long negotiations that kept going for a month with Al Ahly president. I acknowledge the abilities of this squad and the fans, and the club’s history doesn’t pressure me and I accepted this job based on that,” he explained.
“I didn’t accept Al Ahly job because of money and I won’t speak about any clauses. What I care about, is achieving successes and titles,” Peseiro added.
The appointing of Peseiro caused much controversy among Al Ahly’s fan-base in regards to his ability to lift the club to the top once again looking at his previous experiences with the former clubs he managed.
“I can’t find a reason for all this criticism before I even start to work. Everyone is free to express his opinion and who opposed my presence [at the club] will see what I will do with the team,” he explained.
A lot of Al Ahly fans were disappointed with Peseiro’s appointment as they were calling for the return of Manuel José for a fourth spell with the Red Devils.
“Comparing myself to Manuel José is definitely an unfair thing, José achieved huge successes in the past with Al Ahly, I see no logic behind this comparison. I spoke with him and he stressed on the importance of winning titles for the sake of fans’ rejoicing,” he added.
One of the doubts that hover over the former Real Madrid assistant coach is his personality, as it was rumored that he had a weak character and couldn’t handle stars in a squad.
“I trained players with the stature of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and Nani. I can deal with any big player in Al Ahly without any issue. I have coached several clubs on different levels, I worked with clubs in the second division and other big teams in Saudi Arabia but Al Ahly is different to all the clubs I trained before, they always look to win trophies,” he said.
“Any manager dreams of coaching Al Ahly and winning titles with them, I came here for this but I can’t promise winning any trophy at the time being,” Peseiro concluded.
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