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Pitso says not conceding as important as scoring for Sundowns against Ahly

Pitso Mosimane became the first South African coach to win the Caf Champions League when he guided Mamelodi Sundowns to glory in 2016.
Pitso Mosimane became the first South African coach to win the Caf Champions League when he guided Mamelodi Sundowns to glory in 2016.
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Mamelodi Sundowns must box smart in the first leg of their Caf Champions League quarterfinal against Al Ahly at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday‚ according to coach Pitso Mosimane.

The Brazilians host Egypt’s Red Devils in Atteridgeville looking for a convincing win and a clean sheet that they will take to the second leg next weekend at Suez Stadium in Alexandria.

“They are a big club‚ we have to tread carefully and play the same way we played against Wydad Casablanca‚ Lobi Stars and Asec here.

“We need to take the game to them because they are smart and a highly technical team.

“They are a team with big and top individual players and they are a team that plays well with lots of good movements. They look after the ball very well and they are a perfect team in terms of how they play.

“But even a perfect team like Manchester City lose certain games‚ so we get motivation from the games they lost to Simba and against AS Vita.”

Sundowns beat Morocco’s Wydad‚ Nigeria’s Lobi and Ivory Coast’s Asec Mimosas to win all their home games in Group A.

Ahly lost against Tanzania’s Simba and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Vita away in Group D.

Mosimane said it is possible for Sundowns to register their first win over the Egyptian record eight-time Champions League winners.

“It is doable to beat them because we are also a good team but we must play the way we always play at home‚” the coach said.

“We scored three against Lobi Stars‚ Asec and I am not saying that we are going to score three against Al Ahly‚ but we can if we believe.

“We need to win here at home and we need more than one goal because that is not enough in the Champions League.

"The most important thing is to try and not concede –1-1 won’t help us and 0-0 will be the worst situation.

“If it’s a draw then there must never be a goal conceded because the goal that Wydad scored against us here put us in a very difficult situation.”

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