Pressure makes Sundowns more determined – Lakay

Mamelodi Sundowns defender Lyle Lakay has warned that the more pressure the Brazilians are put under, the better the reaction from the players.

Lakay was speaking ahead of their DStv Premiership match against tricky Stellenbosch at Loftus Versfeld Stadium today at 5pm as they are eager to bounce back to winning ways following their disappointing 1-1 draw with Sekhukhune United this past weekend.

“I think the guys are ready and we are motivated. We are a team that performs better under pressure and we thrive under pressure as we drew our game before this one and had a win and a loss before,” Lakay told the club media department.

“We are ready and are going there for three points. We were disappointed with the results against Sekhukhune and we have this 24-hour thing where if we win, we celebrate and if we lose, we are disappointed for those hours.

“After that, it is back to focusing on the next match. I will say we are over the previous results and us being professionals, we have to focus on the next assignment, which is Stellenbosch.”

Last season, Stellies collected four points from Sundowns after a draw in the first round before beating them 3-0 in Tshwane in a match where the Brazilians had already won the league title.

And Lakay expects another difficult encounter, but that they will be ready for them.

“People look at our previous two seasons against Stellies and if you have been watching those games, they have been a tough opponent for us,” he said.

“They are a young team with lots of energy and obviously, we do our analysis on every team trying to figure out their strong points and to rectify what we did wrong in a previous game so we can correct it in the next game.”

Meanwhile, Stellies goalkeeper Sage Stephens expects Sundowns to come out firing as they look to avenge the 3-0 defeat they suffered towards the end of last season.

“It’s a big game. Any team likes to play games like this. It's a great way to test ourselves as a team,” Stephens told Sowetan.

“I think beating them last season was a good result and a good day for the club. But I don’t think we can bank on that performance. All we have to do is to pitch up on Wednesday and give it our best.”

Fixtures

Tonight: Sundowns v Stellenbosch, Loftus 5pm; AmaZulu v Arrows, Princess Magogo 7.30pm; Chippa v Galaxy, Nelson Mandela Bay 7.30pm; Richards Bay v SuperSport, King Goodwill Zwelithini 7.30pm; Royal v Maritzburg, Chatsworth 7.30pm; Pirates v Gallants, Orlando 7.30pm.

MTN8 quarterfinals

Saturday: CPT v AmaZulu, Athlone 3pm; Royal v Pirates, Chatsworth 6pm.

Sunday: Stellenbosch v Chiefs, Danie Craven 3pm; Sundowns v SuperSport, Tuks Stadium 6pm.