"I never doubted our ability to beat title holders Ahli in the African Champions League," he told Tunisian paper Essahafa in an interview published on Tuesday.

"We were on alert and prepared for this game very well. We wanted to emulate our previous success against Egyptian sides Zamalek and Ismaili."

Merdassi scored the hosts' only goal just before the break to give Sfaxien a precious 1-0 home victory that put them at the top of Group A alongside Algerian side JS Kabylie.

Sfaxien put on even a better show in the second period and could have added more goals against the defending champions, whom Merdassi didn't forget to credit.

"The game was really tough because Ahli have many players of the Egyptian team that won the African Cup of Nations," he said.

"But we set our rhythm by playing an airtight zone defense and applying our non-nonsense marking on their key players. That's why we deserved victory."

Merdassi was euphoric and said he believes that Sfaxien, who has never won a continental title, is capable of achieving glory.

"That was just a start. We can go all the way towards the title and our second step will be against Asante Kotoko in Ghana," Merdassi said.