Nuno Santos highlights Sundowns pedigree despite Champions League shock

The Brazilians have faced mounting questions over their shock preliminary round exit at the hands of Angolan side Wiliete SC, which saw them surrender their continental crown without reaching the group stages.

However, speaking ahead of their CAF Super Cup clash against CAF Confederation Cup champions USM Alger, Santos urged his teammates to block out the criticism and remain focused on their ambitions.

"I mean, we won the Champions League last year, so it's not easy as well. Obviously as I said before we wanted to be in the competition but I don't want to speak too much about that as well because that's not what we are here for, we are here for the Super Cup,” Santos said.

“I'm focused on that, we are focused on that, we are focused on everything that we control from now on and the Champions League is not one of them. 

“We know that people talk, sometimes people talk too much without knowing what's happening in the background. The only thing that I can say is we do our best everyday to make Sundowns better."

READ: Erasmus on Springboks' demolition of Italy: 'It wasn't perfect, but it was proper'

Santos added that there remains plenty to play for this season, albeit now with only domestic silverware to gun for while there is still the possibility to face PSG in the FIFA Continental Cup. 

"This year we have a lot of competitions to win, to go for it and playing in Sundowns we can only be inside of the competitions to win them all. So, that's our focus to win every competition that we can,” he added.

“We want them all, obviously the one that we cannot win anymore is the Champions League but we want the other ones. So, focusing on that."