Venue change won’t affect Mamelodi Sundowns – Rulani Mokwena

Downs now host their DR Congo counterparts at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville instead of Loftus Stadium, where they have played all their group stage fixtures, because of a rugby match scheduled on the same day.

Mokwena says the adjustment will be swift.

READ: Stellenbosch assessing defender Maxim Gullit son of Dutch legend

"Nothing from a technical perspective, I don't think we expect much. Fortunately, we used it earlier in the season as our home ground, so, we're quite familiar with the turf. We will train there tomorrow [Friday] just to get a little bit more familiarity around it," Mokwena said.

Sundowns spent millions to help speed up renovations at Lucas Moripe around August last year and have listed it as an alternative venue this season.

The coach says the venue is good enough.

"You've got to be prepared to play everywhere, anywhere, I expect a good game of football, it's a good pitch. There was a lot of investment done by the club to make sure that the pitch was ready and has a surface that is good enough to host Mamelodi Sundowns game," Mokwena added.

Sundowns did try to secure FNB Stadium for this final Group A clash against Mazembe, but with Kaizer Chiefs also playing against Moroka Swallows there tomorrow night they had to make use of Lucas Moripe.

It’s a good hunting ground for Downs, the coach believes.

"And the last time we played there was a few months ago, not so long ago against SuperSport [United] and we got a good result there. So, we've got good feelings about Lucas and we are very familiar with the pitch and the atmosphere that can also be created there. That is, it, we just have to perform and perform well, whether we play at Loftus or Lucas, we've just got to perform and that's the mentality going into this game."