Miguel Cardoso tempers Mamelodi Sundowns CAFCL expectations

The 2016 continental champions came agonisingly close to another title last season before falling short in the final to Egyptian side Pyramids over two legs.  

Cardoso’s side open their group with a home clash against Saint-Eloi Lupopo, and the coach has made it clear that Sundowns will avoid comparisons.

"I think we need to have a clear focus on winning competitions, and it's not only for winning the Champions League," said Cardoso.

"But I know that throughout the competition, everyone will take out the pressure from [the opposing team] by saying we are the ones that should win and they are the ones that are just participating.

"This kind of talk started very quickly but, for sure, what we will do is be loyal to ourselves, and being loyal to ourselves is obviously knowing that we have a desire and intention [to win]."

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For Cardoso, the pain was sharper after falling short with Esperance 2024, but he dismissed claims that the Champions League is an “obsession” for the club. 

"I don't think the word obsession is the right one because obsession for me is already a medical state, but a pursuit of an objective should be done with all the energy you can put in, and that's what we are obviously going to put," he added.

"The Champions League is a trophy that the club seeks for 10 years, and unfortunately last year we were not able to give this pleasure to South Africa in general, but mostly to our fans and our club.

"As you might imagine, for myself, I'm in an even worse situation because for two years in a row I was there [in the final] and I could not win, but that will take nothing from us.

"It will just give us energy to seek for the objective, understanding that in the end, by details, it will be a thing that we win, and we hope we can be in that decisive moment and be stronger – but there's a lot to do before arriving there."