Sundowns eye CAFCL knockout stages

by Staff Reporter

Friday Mar 08, 2019. 16:00

Mamelodi Sundowns will be out to book their place in the knockout stages of this season's Caf Champions League when they welcome Lobi Stars to the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Saturday evening.

Kick-off is at 21h00 CAT.

The 2016 champions will confirm their spot in the quarterfinals with victory over the Nigerian club, ahead of their trip to Wydad Casablanca next weekend.

Head coach Pitso Mosimane has underlined the importance of this weekend's fixture for his troops, knowing all to well how difficult it is to get a result in North Africa. The Brazilians currently top Group A, level on seven points with Wydad.

'Do you want to go to North Africa looking for a result? What does history say about all the South African clubs when we go to North Africa?' Mosimane said.

'The game is big for us and I always say I would love to win everything but if we look at the titles, we know which one carries the biggest weight. The Champions League is huge and if it is easy to win it then why can’t everybody do that?'

'The huge priority at home is to win the league but internationally, for the brand of Mamelodi Sundowns, it is the Champions League,'

'You don’t want to go to Wydad and you need a result,' he concluded.

Sundowns lost 2-1 to Stars in the reverse fixture in Enugu, despite opening the scoring through a first-half strike from Anthony Laffor. The Nigerians sit bottom of the group, level in four points with ASEC Mimosas.