Belouizdad out to upset Sundowns

by Staff Reporter

Friday Apr 21, 2023. 14:30

CR Belouizdad go head to head with Mamelodi Sundowns in a CAF Champions League quarter-final first-leg match on Saturday.

Kick-off is at 9:00 pm CAT.

The game is scheduled to be played at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Baraki, Algeria, a suburb of the North African country’s capital city Algiers.

The Algerian champions are winless in their last three competitive matches having succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to MC Oran in a Ligue Professionnelle 1 match on Monday.

Belouizdad booked their spot in the quarter-finals after finishing second in Champions League Group D and they are hoping to go all the way and clinch their maiden continental title this season.

Sundowns, on the other hand, are enduring a four-match winless run across all competitions having suffered a 2-1 loss to Stellenbosch FC in a Nedbank Cup clash on April 15.

The South African champions eased into the quarter-finals after winning Champions League Group B and they are determined to win the prestigious tournament for the second time this year.

Belouizdad have no suspension worries and the club has urged its supporters to avoid throwing bottles, igniting flares, throwing sticks and using lasers during the game against Sundowns.

Meanwhile, Sundowns will welcome back Teboho Mokoena back from suspension, but Rivaldo Coetzee, Erwin Saavedra and Thabiso Kutumela are currently injured.

This will be the third meeting between Belouizdad and Sundowns across all competitions having recorded a win each.

Masandawana hammered Belouizdad 5-1 in a Champions League Group B clash in Tanzania in February 2021.

However, the North African side got its revenge as they won 2-0 in another Group B encounter played in Pretoria in April 2021.