Egypt captain Ahmed Hassan is confident that his Belgian club Anderlecht can still advance to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League despite losing to Fenerbahce 1-0 on Wednesday. The Belgian champions were sunk by a 32nd strike from Brazilian Alex and will now need to win at least 2-0 in Brussels on August 28th. "Losing to Fenerbahce 1-0 in Istanbul at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium is not a bad result," Hassan told FilGoal.com exclusively after the game. "I'm sure we can bounce back and make it up in the return leg."
Anderlecht were eliminated from the group stage last season The veteran midfielder did regret that his team squandered a host of chances that could have turned the table on the Turkish giants. "Our setback was the lack of experience of some of our players who were intimidated by the exuberant fans. "In the second-half we took control of the game and wasted three chances to score, but this has given us the confidence that we can win in Belgium." Hassan, who previously played for Fener's bitter rivals Besiktas, played a strong game and even had a goal disallowed by the referee. "I think we did well, and even though the score-line isn't bad, I believe we could have at least been able to draw," said the 32-year-old.
