With only a point after two matches in the CAF Champions League Group A, Al-Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane admitted that they have put themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the knockout stage.

The Red Devils drew their opening match with Al-Hilal of Sudan before losing 0-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns at home on Saturday to remain third on the group with one point.

Even though he believes they can still qualify, he thinks it will be difficult as they need to do it the hard way. Sundowns lead the group with seven points after three matches, followed by Al-Merrikh, also of Sudan, who have four points.

“Of course, we’re feeling very sad. Again for me, it’s a match I didn’t want to lose, but it’s part of the game. These things happen in football,” Mosimane told the club’s official website.

“I can’t blame the team, we tried so much and got so many opportunities to score and I always knew if the danger came, it would be a counter attack because we had numbers on the other side, my midfield went out.

“It happens in football. You learn the hard way, and it puts us in a difficult position now where we need to qualify the hardest way.

“We have to try and win in SA. We can do that. I always knew that if we had any threat it would come from counterattacks.

“Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns. But when you put pressure, pressure and pressure, one mistake, one chance you do that and they will score.”

The 57-year-old also felt VAR could have helped with Kennedy Mweene appearing to handle the ball outside the box in the second half.

“I will always ask CAF to use VAR throughout the whole competition. The opponent’s goalkeeper used his hand to save the ball from outside of the box. Also, I believe Percy Tau was onside when he scored.

“However, we don’t blame the absence of VAR for the loss. We had many opportunities that we should’ve scored from. We can’t escape the fact that we played two games in the CAF Champions League group stage without scoring.”