The round of 16 clash, which Ahli won 1-0 to reach the group stage, was marred by an incident where Ahli fans torched the stands with canisters after the break, forcing referee Ali Kalyango to stop play for a few minutes.

The incident also resulted in the injury of defender Billy Mwanza, who fainted before being taken to hospital with a minor injury.

“Egyptians (Ahli fans) are very cruel,” Zambian international goalkeeper Banda told The Post.

“We lost 1-0 and Billy was shot with the fireworks and he was badly injured taken to the hospital and after that they scored in the 76th minute.”

ZESCO coach Fighton Simukonda said in the post-match interview that his side could have ousted the six-time champions hadn’t the incident taken place.