Jose Mourinho believes Zamalek didn’t deserve to lose the Egypt Cup final to Al Ahly, but hailed the Reds for winning the game despite being out of form.
The Portuguese manager has been a free agent since January after he was sacked by AS Roma following a poor run of results.
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He was later invited to Saudi Arabia to present the 2022-23 Egypt Cup final between Al Ahly and Zamalek on Friday evening as part of the Riyadh Season.
A thrilling Cairo derby ultimately ended in Al Ahly’s favour as the Red Devils earned a 2-0 victory, thanks to late goals from Emam Ashour and Mohamed Magdy Afsha.
Speaking on the result, Mourinho said: “Without risk-taking from Al Ahly frankly, it’s difficult to say the result was fair, and it was more fair for the game to go to extra time.
“But the big teams have something magical and exceptional there, some call it luck and some call it experience, but usually when big teams reach crucial moments, they win.
“Zamalek played a great match and Al Ahly managed to score. Al Ahly achieved a new title for its historic record in a remarkable evening with an outstanding organization.”
When asked if Zamalek deserved to lose, he replied, “I don’t think so from my point of view, and it’s hard for me to say who deserved to win between both teams, but the one who scored won, until the 60th or 70th minute we thought we will head to penalties.”
When asked about which player impressed him during the final, Mourinho said: “No player caught my attention more than the others in this match honestly, there was no amazing player in the match to be fair.
“I liked the movement of the young player (Emam Ashour) – in Al Ahly’s first goal, in a tight match in which no one was running in spaces.”