Sundowns trust in their history of CAF comebacks

Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi is looking at their previous experience in the CAF Champions League when they turned first-leg defeats to victories in the second leg, to spur them on against Petro de Luanda.

The Brazilians will host Petro in the quarterfinal return leg at FNB Stadium on Saturday at 6pm, looking to turn around a  2-1 deficit.

Having done this before against Zesco United in the semifinal in 2016 and Chicken Inn in the preliminary rounds, Mngqithi said they are capable of doing the same against Petro on Saturday.

“We went to AS-Otoho, we lost 2-1 and we came back and we won four [in the 2019/20 season]. We went to Zesco, we lost 2-1 and we came back and scored two. We went to Chicken Inn in the 2016 early stages of the competition, we lost 1-0 and we came back and won,” Mngqithi explained to the media on Thursday.

“We have done this before and the fact that we didn’t win against Wydad [Casablanca] when we needed one goal to win, we understand.

“The fact that we didn’t win against Al Ahly last year, the mountain was a bit steep for us because we allowed them to score two goals away.

“When you allow two goals without any reply, it becomes very difficult because if they score one goal, it becomes difficult.

“We got the experience of coming back and we’ve won a lot of matches to believe that our team is good enough. In the past two years I think we have lost two matches and that is something that carries us and makes us believe that we have the capacity to come back and win every match.”

The 50-year-old also expects an improved performance from his charges as he feels they didn’t play well in the first leg.

“We are playing against a very good team and we must give a little bit of respect in that phase,” he said.