Al Ahli assistant coach Catalin Raducan hailed his squad’s achievements this season despite missing their “one big chance” to make history by claiming a UAE-first domestic treble in after suffering defeat in the President’s Cup final.

The Red Knights failed to add to their Arabian Gulf Cup (AGC) and Arabian Gulf League (AGL) successes as they went down to Asamoah Gyan’s strike at Zayed Sports City.

“We started very badly, in the first half we did not play our game and we paid for that. In the second half we tried to come back, but we did not score” Raducan said. “We lost one big chance to make history, but I want to congratulate the players for an amazing job this year.

“These things can make us stronger, to learn from our mistakes and be stronger next season.” 

Ahli mathematically won the AGL title with a month to spare such was their domiannce, triumphing in the AGC showpiece in April as well, and Raducan hinted his player’s levels had dropped in the aftermath.

He said: “We paid a lot, maybe we did not concentrate in the game. Our head, maybe, was not in the final.

“Last week, we had a lot of celebrations but we do not have an excuse. We played very bad in the first half, it is not the first time. Until now we have been lucky and have changed in the second half and scored, we did not have that luck this time.

“We had two good chances when the ball hit the crossbar. But this is life, we paid for our mistake.”