Miguel Cardoso explains Al Hilal defeat backs quarterfinal push

A week after being held to a 2–2 draw by the same opponents at Loftus Versfeld, Cardoso felt the hosts were noticeably sharper, capitalising on what he described as a congested and demanding schedule for Sundowns.

Despite the setback, the Portuguese mentor remains confident that The Brazilians can still secure a place in the quarterfinals with two group matches still to play.

"I remember last year we were unfortunately in a similar situation after the fourth match, we lost that match and then we had a difficult match away that we played in Congo. This time it's also a tough match to play in Congo against Saint Lupopo and that's what big teams have to look ahead,” Cardoso said. 

“But before that match we still have a cup match on Tuesday unfortunately we played three days ago. It was also clear in certain moments in the match that the team was much more tired than Al Hilal that just played against us. 

“Despite changing a few players in the match compared to the previous match, it was clear that we were tired. Despite it looking quite close we had to make a trip where we had a stop, it was almost one day travelling and it was clear in certain moments that the team was a little bit tired and you feel that by the number of mistakes that you make. 

“But now it's really time to go back home, see who can play the next match on Wednesday in the best conditions possible. It's a cup match, that for us is very important and then after that we start thinking about Lupopo's match ofcourse." 

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Another stumbling block, Cardoso added, was their failure to capitalise on opportunities created in the final third.

"We lost because we didn't convert our chances, it's clear. I think we had more than enough if we exclude the last 15 minutes of the match where Al Hilal had several counterattacks because we had to risk, we had to expose ourselves,” the coach explained.

“I think the story of the game is obviously the opportunities that we didn't score. Al Hilal knows very well how to expose themselves, they know very well after taking the lead that dropping numbers and defending and then using their quick players that they could arrive in our box but basically the chances that we had were so many. 

“I remember three in the first half and three, four in the second half and you had to convert so that you can at least make a draw and then make the game a little bit more tactical and more balanced and basically that's it."