Ahly head coach Jess Thorup. Photo courtesy of Ahly.
The Danish coach apologized to supporters and acknowledged their frustration, but insisted he would not resign, stressing that any decision regarding his position rests with the club.
“I congratulate our opponents on the win. It’s strange to lose 3-0 — for 45 minutes there were no real chances on goal. We handed Pyramids opportunities to score from two mistakes after the 70th minute,” Thorup said after the match.
He defended his side’s response to going behind and questioned the decision to disallow an equaliser. “Our reaction after conceding the first goal was good. I’ve watched the disallowed goal more than 10 times and I don’t see any offside, but that’s football,” he added.
Thorup pointed to inefficiency in front of the goal as a recurring issue. “Pyramids have a striker who scored two goals from two chances. As I’ve said before, we create chances but fail to convert them,” he said.
Asked whether he would consider stepping down, Thorup said, “I sincerely apologize to the fans. I understand their frustration when the team doesn’t win, but I don’t give up — and the decision about my future is not mine.”
He added that it was too early to judge his long-term project, despite the likelihood of missing out on both the league title and the CAF Champions League.
“I came here with a long-term project — to develop players and build over several transfer windows, not just one. Talking about the future now isn’t appropriate,” he said.
Looking ahead to Friday’s Cairo derby against Zamalek, Thorup conceded the defeat could have psychological repercussions.
“This loss will affect us before the big match. A win would have made it a title-deciding clash. We need to evaluate the situation and separate our emotions before the next game,” he said.
He concluded by stressing the importance of results in the remaining fixtures. “I told the players that winning the title depends on winning our matches. We had chances when the score was still level and could have scored and come back.”
The defeat marked Pyramids FC’s first home-and-away league double over Ahly since the 2018–19 season, and their biggest-ever win against the Cairo giants.
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