Mamelodi Sundowns’ centreback Wayne Arendse has called on the Brazilians to be more ruthless at home in their quest to become African champions for the second time in the club’s history.
Sundowns host Rayon Sports in the second leg of the first round of the Caf Champions League at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday. The club’s fans will enter the stadium for free if they are wearing yellow or any Sundowns’ regalia. A good record at home was the backbone of the club’s march to conquer the continent in 2016.
“We need to be more ruthless at home,” Arendse said. “We need to make teams aware that it won’t be easy coming here. We need to start scoring more goals and keep it tight at the back. We need to be more dominant at home”
“People now know who Sundowns is. We put ourselves there. It’s a good thing for us. They know that we won the Champions League before. We need to bring our A game in every game to show the people why we won the Champions League and why we have a star on our emblem.”
Sundowns have to take control of the game after playing to a goalless draw in the first leg in Kigali. Arendse was part of the defence that kept a clean sheet in Rwanda.
“We knew that they were going to play on the break,” Arendse said. “We needed to be aware because once they win the ball the strikers looked at the spaces to run to. We needed to be on top of our game and look out for those break attacks. They will do the same thing here. They will be sitting back and waiting for that break.”
“We need to be more ready for them because if we conceded we would need to score two goals. That’s the thing about the Champions League. The away goal is very crucial in this competition.”
