Miguel Cardoso keeps Sundowns grounded before CL opener

The Brazilians, runners-up in last season’s competition, begin their continental campaign away at the Abiola International Stadium this evening before hosting the return leg in Tshwane next week.

Speaking ahead of the first-leg encounter, Cardoso outlined Sundowns’ approach on the road.

"If we wanna play Champions League again we need to be very strong to beat this team of Remo Stars. If we come here and we think of the past, the fact that last year we were finalists, we are making a big mistake and I don't go along with these kind of attitudes,” Cardoso said.

“We come here to play the first of the two matches obviously, both of them will be difficult, played in different conditions. We know what this team is capable of, we know that there's a dream in every head of every player of Rama Stars and everybody in the club but we need to be loyal to ourselves. 

“We need to give our best, we need to be serious and we need to be obviously very focused on what we have to do and if we want to play in the Champions League we have to be very serious in the way we go through these two matches. 

“Otherwise the story of the underdog can happen here or in any pitch in Africa where we play these qualifying rounds, if the teams don't take it seriously and we will for sure take it very seriously." 

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The Sundowns mentor emphasises the significance of the Champions League for the reigning Betway Premiership champions. 

"For us Mamelodi Sundowns with the past that we have in this competition, being already a team with one star, being the finalists of the last edition, obviously for us, this is a must make job and task,” the coach added.

“But that doesn't take anything out of the respect that we have for the opponents, we know the value of Nigerian football, we know the value of Rama Stars. We know how hard they will fight for their objectives also but we have to put our best in the pitch. “From the first minute of the first match until the last minute of the second one and that's only with that kind of attitude that only we will be able to do the job."