Rulani Mokwena’s Mouloudia Alger kept up their unbeaten start to the season and extended their lead in the Ligue 1 standings as they beat Chabab Belouizdad 2-1 in their derby on Monday.
The result sees MCA move to 25 points from nine games, having dropped only two points. They are three points ahead of second-placed Olympique Akbou, who have played three matches more.
MCA were a goal down when former French-based striker Farid El Melali put Belouizdad into an 18th-minute lead, but it lasted only five minutes before Soufiane Bayazid equalised.
The winner for the home side came nine minutes from time from Guinea import Mohamed Saliou Bangoura.
The result would have been particularly satisfying for Mokwena as it was over his former coaching foe, Saed Ramovic, who is in his second season at Belouizdad.
The two of them had an ugly spat when they were both coaching in South Africa, dating back to when Ramovic’s TS Galaxy eliminated Mokwena’s Mamelodi Sundowns 5-4 on penalties in the first round of the 2023 Carling Knockout.
After they lost, Mokwena blamed injuries and international call-ups, but Ramovic blasted the excuses while expressing his anger at a reckless tackle by Bongani Zungu that left Bernard Parker injured.
“If we win a game, is it really tough to congratulate us for a fair game and beautiful job from the opponent?” Ramovic asked at the time. “Why always find excuses to put the other coach down and raise yourself?”
Ramovic then alleged that Mokwena threatened him over the phone and said “a lot of bad things” about him.
“The best lie was that he called Bernard Parker after the bad injury. It’s a lie because when you ask Parker, he will tell you he never called, so he lied. This is very sad from a coach whose player injured my player,” added the German-born Bosnian coach.
Recently, Mokwena tried to play down the animosity.
“I try to keep a very low profile and focus on the things I can really control, and I try to get rid of some of the things,” he told reporters.
“I try to eliminate some unnecessary things and I only focus on the more important things. I also demand a little bit more from myself mentally, and I think that’s all I can say about this.”