The thumping victory in Sudan means that the Tunisian side will be in pole position for the title when the two teams re-clash for the return game later this month.

"No way we could lose this tie, even if we played with the reserves, it is almost impossible to lose by a three-goal margin," Nafti told Sudanese newspaper Al-Mashaheer.

"To be honest, one goal in Omdurman would have satisfied us, but we succeeded in scoring four.

"I think its over, we managed to make up for our failure in last year's Champions League final."

Sfaxien was within a whisker of clinching the Champions League last season, but they were denied by the infamous 90th minute strike by Ahli's Mohamed Abou-Treika.

Assuming Responsibility

On the losing side, Merreikh manager Otto Pfister admitted that his team is facing a difficult task to recover from the heavy first leg score line.

"It is an embarrassing defeat, I think it will be very difficult for us to bounce back in the return leg," said the German.

Pfister, formerly a Zamalek coach, will be in charge of Cameroon in next year's African Cup of Nations in Ghana.