Coetzee: This is the Champions League

Mamelodi Sundowns player, Rivaldo Coetzee, anticipates a challenging match against Bumamuru FC in the upcoming Caf Champions League.

Sundowns will host the Burundian side in the Caf Champions League, preliminary round, second leg.

The 2016 Caf Champions League winners head into this encounter with a commanding 4-0 lead; Lucas Ribeiro was the catalyst, opening the scoring as early as the 12th minute and later securing a brace in the second half.

Lesiba Nku and Peter Shalulile also joined the scoring fray to expand the lead. Despite their advantageous position, Coetzee, anticipates a challenging second leg match.

“This is the Champions League, there is never an easy game even though we are 4-0 up after the first leg,” said Coetzee.

“We continue to prepare for every game the same because it’s the culture of the club and we want to win every match, so we will go into this match with the same mentality.

“It’s a whole new game so I think Bumamuru FC will come out maybe a little bit more aggressive than they did in the first leg because they know what they have to overcome if they want to go through.

“We also know what we need to do because it’s our duty to the club and ourselves to put us in the group stages,” the player adds.

Last year, Wydad Casablanca eliminated Sundowns with an aggregate score of 2-2. Coetzee reflected on their semi-final clash and expressed their team’s strong determination to prevent a recurrence of that outcome.

“We all felt the pain of what happened last season, we were so close. It’s not like we lost a game, that’s why we went out of the Champions League, we went out based on the away goal rule. That will be a learning curve for us this season.”

“This year we are preparing to go into the first leg to win and try to kill the game off as we have done now in this preliminary round. We also know that this is the Champions League, it’s never over until the final whistle.

“Even with a 4-0 scoreline, we are still preparing for the second leg the same way we prepare for any other game,” Rivaldo concluded.

The second leg of the CAF Champions League preliminary round against Bumamuru FC will take place at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday evening.

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