Al-Ahly technical coach Hossam el-Badri held his team's rearguard responsible for Friday's 2-0 loss at Ittihad of Lybia in the African Champions League (ACL) round of 16. Younes Al-Shibani and Ahmed Zuway capitalised on the Red Devils' defensive lapses to head both goals and seal a staggering victory for the hosts. Ahly's defeat was mainly put down to El-Badri's inability to employ a suitable formation but the under-fire coach refused to take the blame and cited the Cairo giants' slack defense. "Ittihad's both goals were scored because of our defenders' recurrent mistakes," he told Ahly's official website. "This is a serious problem that we have to address as soon as possible." Although he admitted Ahly's backline incompetence, Badri believes his men shouldn't have slumped to a defeat. "At least we should have salvaged a draw," he added. "The result doesn't really reflect both teams' displays. "We were superior in terms of ball possession, we had no luck though. "Our frontline carved out a host of clear-cut scoring chances but the execution was always poor."