AFL win has given us confidence for Champs League – Kekana

Mamelodi Sundowns defender Grant Kekana suggested that the African Football League (AFL) has shown that they can beat the continent’s big guns and they now want to translate that winning mentality to the CAF Champions League.

The newly crowned AFL champions start their Champions League group phase matches against Nouadhibou at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

Kekana feels their success in the AFL will give them confidence to go all the way in the Champions League as they look to win it for the second time.

“It will give us a great sense of confidence going into the Champions League. We know what happened last season,” Kekana told the club media department.

“The AFL proved that we can do it against the big guns and we became victorious in that competition, and we want to continue with that winning momentum, that mentality.

“The AFL was just the start of something even bigger and we hope that this season, the Champions League will be brought home but we know it is going to be a difficult journey.”

While they know little about the Mauritania side, Kekana emphasised the importance of not taking the team lightly.

“It is going to be a journey that we will need to be well prepared for, so we don’t take anything or any team for granted,” he said.

“There are a lot of surprises from teams that are unknown on the continent, such as this one we are playing.

“So, we don’t want to take anything for granted and take any team lightly.”

Kekana, 31, also expects Nouadhibou to give them a run for their money, especially since they have players in the Mauritania national team.

“I think we all know what the Champions League is like. Very competitive, very tough and this is also a tough team.

“We know that they have a few players in the Mauritania national team. So, we expect the quality to be very high."