"We have not secured a spot in the final yet. Our approach to tomorrow's match against Esperance is to consider the result as 0-0. It is untrue that I will rest some of my players," Koller stated during a press conference on Thursday.
The Red Devils achieved a commanding 3-0 victory over Esperance in Tunisia, bringing them closer to their fourth consecutive final.
"Scoring three goals away from home in the first leg is proof of our excellent performance. However, Esperance put up a good fight and wasted opportunities. We must maintain our focus to prevent them from scoring this time. In Europe, we have seen teams make comebacks and score more than three goals," he explained.
Ahly's veteran goalkeeper, Mohammed El-Shennawy, is uncertain for the second leg against Esperance due to injury.
"El-Shennawy is undeniably an influential player, but we have substitutes available for him, whether in tomorrow's match or in other games," the Swiss coach clarified.
Percy Tau's sesurgence
Koller also praised the recent form of Percy Tau, who has delivered exceptional performances, scoring four goals and providing four assists in the CAF Champions League.
"When I took over, he was injured. He recovered but got injured again after two matches. We implemented a specialized rehabilitation program for him. My concern with him was that he lacked patience and wanted to play the full 90 minutes. To avoid setbacks, I couldn't allow that and had to manage his return step by step," he explained.
"As a technical staff, we succeeded in rehabilitating and developing Tau to showcase his current level. It's important to remember that he doesn't play alone, and the performance of his teammates has aided him in demonstrating his capabilities," he added.
Addressing the team's inefficiency in front of the goal and the issue of squandered opportunities, Koller stated, "That is a natural part of football. The problem can be resolved through practice. Players make decisions in split seconds, and improvement comes from analyzing the problem and training for it."
Koller also discussed the potential for revenge against Sundowns in the final after enduring a humiliating 5-2 defeat earlier in the group stage.
"Our primary goal is to qualify for the final first. If that happens, we will closely observe the Sundowns and Wydad's match the following day to study our opponent," Koller concluded.
Sundowns managed to secure an away scoreless draw against Wydad and now need a home victory on Saturday to reach their first final since 2016.
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