Rulani won't blame Mvala for red card two minutes into the AFL game

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena says he won't blame defender Mothobi Mvala after getting a straight red card during their African Football League (AFL) goalless draw with Petro de Luanda in the second leg at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday.

Sundowns won the quarterfinal 2-0 in aggregate to set up a semifinal date with Al Ahly, with the first leg set to take place at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.

Mvala was shown a red card two minutes into the match after he was adjudged to have fouled Petro player Tiago Leal, who had a scoring opportunity.

This was the third mistake in continental competitions after he scored an own goal in the CAF Champions League semifinal against Wydad Casablanca to draw 2-2 to be eliminated from the competition on aggregate.

Mvala then conceded a penalty in the first leg against Petro last week Saturday before Ronwen Williams came to his rescue to save it.

But Mokwena came in defence of the defender and said they would analyse the red card and speak to him and that mistakes are part of the game.

"I have made far more mistakes than Mothobi in my life. Fare more costly errors of course, we will analyse, we will check and we will speak to him for sure like we did with other mistakes like many of my players make mistakes," Mokwena told the media during the post-match press conference.

"When we make mistakes, we check and analyse and we move on or try to improve. Mistakes are there like problems and they exist in life because they present to you opportunities not for growth but for learning.

"And finding solutions and getting better. So, Mothobi like all other players at Sundowns, will always receive love from me and the club and everyone associated with this football club.

"If we start to judge, then we must be put into a space where we are judged. We live in a society where we are quick to judge others where we forget how sinful we are.

"How many mistakes do we make ourselves? But we are so quick to judge other people. We must have kindness."

With that, Sundowns had to play for more than 90 minutes with a man down and defended well to manage the game against Petro.

Mokwena was full of praise for how they adjusted after they were a man down.

"Huge compliments to the players for their adaptation and their tactical flexibility to adhere to tactics and see the game through," he said."You can only do that if you have hard-working football players."