Komphela says facing ex-club Sundowns in cup tie will be emotional

Moroka Swallows coach Steve Komphela has not hidden that for him and his skipper Andile Jali it'll be a bit emotional to come up against their former side Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 quarterfinals at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

Komphela, who had joined Sundowns as a senior coach in 2020, unexpectedly left the Tshwane giants for Swallows early last month. On the other hand, Jali linked up with Komphela at Dobsonville Stadium a few weeks ago, having spent a trophy-laden five years in Chloorkop.  

"Partly it (facing Sundowns for the first time since leaving the club) may be emotional but we are  professionals, we have to go on with our business,'' Komphela said after his side's 1-0 league defeat to Cape Town City at home on Wednesday.

"Our project still needs to hit a positive note and we are facing a very good Mamelodi Sundowns team... we just have to prepare ourselves, looking at what we want to achieve in the project we are building, putting it up against Sundowns. And without coming with ridiculous expectations that we will beat Sundowns and all that."

The Birds coach still anticipates an exciting clash: "It’s gonna be exciting, obviously and in as much as one spent three years at Sundowns and Andile [Jali] had spent so many years and has got so many medals...has got lots of great friends and shared a lot of energy.''