The coach of Al-Shorta Club, the Egyptian Moamen Suleiman, revealed the pivotal decision that was behind the heavy loss his team suffered against Al-Ittihad Saudi with a score of (4-1) in the third round of the AFC Champions League for elite teams in the match held at the International City Stadium in Baghdad.

Suleiman said in statements after the match: "Al-Ittihad Saudi is a big team with distinguished players and stars who can decide any match. Naturally, we played well against them, and we had a chance to achieve a positive result, but unfortunately, things did not go as we planned or expected for most of the match's minutes."

He added: "I say it frankly, I am the one who bears the responsibility for the result of the match because I chose the way of playing. Between the two halves, I made a pivotal decision when I asked the players: Do we want to avoid a heavy defeat or do we try to achieve a positive result and win? As I expected, everyone chose to try to win the match."

He continued: "Real Madrid and Barcelona lose by four goals to small teams in Spain, but I lost to a team like Al-Ittihad Saudi, whose budget is ten times that of Al-Shorta's budget."

He went on to say: "Al-Shorta had good periods in the match, and we had important chances to score more than one goal, but we lacked the final touch. I apologize to Al-Shorta fans for this result, but we played against a very strong team, and we will work to correct the path in the upcoming matches."

This loss is Al-Shorta's second in the tournament, after their defeat against Al-Gharafa of Qatar with a score of 2-0 in the previous round, leaving them with only one point from their draw in the first round against Al-Sadd of Qatar with a score of (1-1).