Mamelodi Sundowns look to secure their first Champions League win in Nigeria

THAPELO MORENA says Mamelodi Sundowns are braced for a bruising encounter in an unforgiving atmosphere when they kick-start their CAF Champions league campaign away to Nigeria’s Remo Stars on Sunday.

The South African champions, along with Egypt’s A Ahly, had a bye in the preliminary round due to their top rankings on the continent and are only entering the fray now with just a round to play before the group stages.

Fresh from helping South Africa qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since the country earned a ticket to the global showpiece on the pitch in 2001, Morena is excitedly looking ahead to assisting his team qualify for the money-spinning round robin phase. He knows though that they have a tough hurdle to jump over.

“Phew!” he sighed “The atmosphere is gonna be tense. After we played Nigeria (in the World Cup qualifiers) Remo Stars won their qualification to play Sundowns. So there’s a lot at stake, I expect a crazy atmosphere.”

The utility player says the battle will begin the moment Sundowns land at the airport and the Brazilians will need to be strong-minded to not allow any tricks by their hosts to affect them. So serious are Stars about the match that they were given a break from the domestic game, the league postponing their last two fixtures so they could focus on preparing for this one.

“From when we arrive in Nigeria, the game’s gonna start when we land. We are going to have to put our minds on it. They want the upper hand. Obviously if you postpone your two games it showed just the magnitude of this game.

"And the fact that they are going to give their fans free entrance into the stadium means they want their supporters to push the team (to victory). But we are going there to do the business we know on the field. We will do our best to come back with a win from there.”

That would be a first, Sundowns never having won a Champions League match in Nigeria on their three visits there.

Their first trip to Nigeria was back in 2001 when they reached the final for the first time. They were in the same group as Julius Berger who beat them 2-0 in Nigeria in the first leg tie. The Brazilians did win their home leg 1-0 and finished ahead of Bergeron on the table.

Sundowns second trip to Nigeria was in the triumphant 2016 campaign under Coach Pitso Mosimane. Then they were drawn against Enyimba in the group phase and won 2-1 at home. They had already qualified for the knockouts when they went to Nigeria and Enyimba won that inconsequential match 3-1.

Their last trip to the continent’s most populous country was in the 2018/19 campaign to face Lobi Stars. They met on Match Day 1 and Sundowns suffered a 2-1 defeat after they’d taken the lead via Anthony Laffor. That result was no train smash though as the Brazilians went on to reach the semi-final that season.

Sunday’s clash with Remo Stars will be the first time Sundowns play a Nigerian team in a knockout round. Will it also be the first time they win in Nigeria? Morena certainly believes so.