Gross: Gor Mahia was the better side

Zamalek coach Christian Gross has admitted that Gor Mahia deserved to win in the opening Caf Confederation Cup group “D” game at Kasarani stadium on Sunday.

Zamelek broke the deadlock in the seventh minute through Ibrahim Hassan but Jacques Tuyisenge equalized on 25 minutes and completed his brace on 38 minutes.

Ibrahim restored parity on 43 minutes before rookie Nicholas Kipkirui and Dennis Oliech netted a goal apiece in the second half to down the 12-time Egyptian champions.

“We made mistakes as a team especially in defence that led to conceding four goals after getting an advantage through an early goal, they deserved to win,” admitted the 64-year-old Swiss.

“We’ve absolutely started on a wrong way but we are in the group stage, we still have a chance with five games to go. My focus is on the next game in the league after which I will think about the Confederation Cup again,” said Gross in reference to their trip to Giza to face Nogoom in a league game on Saturday.

Gross was coy on terming Gor a better side despite lying fourth in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) compared to them who atop the 18-team Egyptian Premier League log on 45 points.

“You can’t compare a league run with international games, it’s different because this comes with change of temperature and new conditions one has to adjust in this kind of competition,” he offered in mitigation.

Zamalek next host Algerian side Hussein Dey on February 13 in the Confederation Cup. The latter started on a sound note by edging out Petro Atletico of Angola 2-1 in Algeria on Sunday.