Despite the conclusion of Al-Shorta's journey in the AFC Champions League for the elite, Egyptian coach Moamen Soliman expressed his great pride in the levels his team presented during the tournament, confirming that the numbers and statistics reflect a different picture from the final standings.

Al-Shorta achieved an important moral victory over Qatari Al-Duhail with a score of (3-2) in the match held at Al-Zawraa Stadium as part of the eighth and final round, bidding farewell to the competition with a victory that confirmed their ability to compete with the continent's giants.

Soliman said in statements to the media, among them:

"Al-Shorta team achieved an important victory over its Qatari counterpart Al-Duhail, which is a distinguished team, and we presented this performance in more than one match. We have five confrontations in which we came out with a similar result. We deserved to have no less than 12 or 13 points, and we could have qualified, but thank God in any case."

He added:

"We played against Tractor in Iran, and faced Al-Gharafa and Al-Sadd, and the differences were slight, perhaps only in the level against the Saudi teams. Nevertheless, I always say: it is impossible for a team like Al-Ittihad or Al-Ahli to come to Baghdad without respecting us. Their coaches talked about that, and they are well aware of the value of playing here and the possibility of our team prevailing over them on more than one occasion."

The Egyptian coach explained:

"The mistake was in the goal we conceded, but we played an excellent match and forced the opponent to respect us. We pushed them back to their areas and controlled the course of the match. There is a very important statistic that I am personally proud of, which is that we are the team among 24 teams in Asia that reached the goal the most, and this is a big point in our favor and we will work on developing it in the future."

Soliman confirmed his satisfaction with the technical benefit the team gained from this continental experience, saying:

"In the end, the result is from God and cannot be objected to. Sometimes we are at our best 100% and God honors us, and sometimes we are good and deserve to win but it doesn't happen. These are the judgments of football, and we must accept them. Certainly, we achieved the technical benefit by clashing with the giants of Asian teams, and this gives us more experience and practice."

The coach had indicated before facing Al-Duhail that his team's focus would completely shift towards the Iraqi Stars League competitions, aiming to retain the title and win it for the fifth consecutive time, amid strong competition this season.