“I think the match was okay. Probably because we had other plans for our domestic league, we couldn't use our main players from the beginning," said Loss. “We used this moment to gain experience for the next Champions League.

“I'm really proud of the team. They (the young players) handled the pressure well despite having played only a few games this season.”

Buriram struggled against an aggressive Al Ahli side and conceded two quick goals with Loss admitting that tactical adjustments and lack of experience contributed to the difficult start.

“We tried a different style. It created some problems for us at the beginning. We should have stayed back more. We knew Al Ahli would push and unfortunately, we made two early mistakes that were hard to recover from.”

With Buriram competing across five competitions and facing nine matches in 25 days, Loss highlighted the challenges of squad rotation while maintaining performance levels.

“Our local league is our priority. We have to win the final game to secure a spot in the Champions League Elite next season. It's a long trip to Jeddah and back and I needed to protect our main players.

“I apologise to the fans that they couldn’t watch a better game with our strongest line-up. It's not easy to make these decisions, but we have important goals as a club. Our players deserve to be here and we must continue to work with our feet on the ground to achieve our objectives.”