Al Ahly’s legend Taha Ismail has named three players he claims the club must replace after their disappointment in the Caf Champions League final against Wydad Casablanca on Monday.
Ali Maaloul, Aliou Dieng, and Percy Tau are the stars Ismail feels the Red Devils must get rid of after they were defeated 2-0 in Morocco.
"Al Ahly should sell Ali Maaloul, he’s a big name and the club can financially benefit from him," Ismail said, as quoted by KingFut.
"Dieng should also be sold, and after that, they should buy other high-quality players.
"[Percy] Tau is not a high-quality player as well, he should be replaced. We need to bring better players to Al Ahly."
Although the legend feels the players should be shown the exit door at the club, head coach Pitso Mosimane defended his players that started in the final when they failed to defend the continental title.
"Everyone is speaking about the starting line-up when we lost the match, but I would like to say that we defeated Raja with the same starting line-up," the South African coach, who was on course to break the record by winning the Champions League trophy on three consecutive occasions, said.
"Also, everyone knows that Amr El Soulia is injured, that is why he did not play from the beginning of the game."
The final was full of controversy as Al Ahly started by disputing the choice of Mohamed V Stadium – Casablanca’s home ground – as the venue for the final. After raising demands, Al Ahly also made their dissatisfaction known with how the ticketing process was conducted.
After goals from Zouhair El Moutaraji, Wydad Casablanca lifted the cup in their third final in six seasons. It was also their fifth final overall in the Champions League/Africa Cup of Champions Clubs (W2 L2), the most by a Moroccan side in the competition.