Ahli reached the competition's group stage on a 3-2 aggregate win after downing Ittihad 3-0 in the round of 16 second leg in Cairo on Sunday.

Al-Badri revealed that he advised his players to maintain composure and be patient, saying early goals in this kind of games are extremely rare.

"I asked them to stay calm and tried to increase our firepower," he stated.

"Everybody was waiting for early goals but I told my players that this is so unlikely.

"A victory could be sealed at anytime during the game, and that's why we worked hard till the last minute."

Ahli had to beat Ittihad by a three-goal margin in order to go through as they lost the first leg 2-0 in April.

The Cairo side's goals were all scored in the second half by Emad Meteb, Mohamed Fadl and Shehab Ahmed.