Mamelodi Sundowns will have spectators at the FNB Stadium on Saturday when they host Al Merrikh in the CAF Champions League, this comes after a confirmation from the Premier Soccer League to have fans return to stadiums after a two-year hiatus that was enforced by COVID-19. Masandawana’s supporters will be given free entry into the stadium to watch the final group stage game of the continental cup competition. Captain of the Yellow Nation, Mosa Lebusa believes that the return of the fans will uplift their spirit as they head into the final battle of Group A.
“I think it’s a massive boost for us and for all football lovers in the country. We’ve missed playing with the fans around, I think it’s gonna be a great game for us and the fans as well, we are really happy that finally we are going back to play with the fans around.”
“We’ve been waiting to play in front of our fans, even though it’s for the last few games of the season we are really happy that the fans will be there to watch us. We’ve missed their singing, their support.
In their 2020/21 campaign, Bafana Ba Style qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League and stayed at the top with 13 points from five unbeaten games. Downs booked their place in this years’ quarter-finals courtesy of a 1-0 win over the reigning champions, Al Ahly SC. The Brazilians are currently leading the pack in this year’s Group A seeding and reflect the same points as they did last year.
“I think we’ve learnt from what happened last season and we don’t want that to happen again, we try by all means to get 100% record in the group stages, one would say, ‘just because we’ve already qualified and we have to take our foot off’, but that’s not the case with us. I think we will go and give it our hundred percent.”
“We are just focussing on our process, we are trying our best to play one game at a time and try to win each game that we play. Some games are difficult and you won’t get the results that you’re looking for but we try to give it our all.”
Lebusa also clarified on the pressure to win the Champions League as a reflection of the teams’ success: “The season being a failure if we don’t win the Champions League I don’t think so, [because] when we step on the pitch we give it our all, sometimes we don’t win games but that doesn’t define us. I think this season we stand a really good chance, we are performing well and the guys have really showed up.”
“Our group was really tough, we had three teams that really gave us a run for our money. What happens on the other side has really nothing to do with us, we are just focusing on what we have to do. Our group was very tough, we went to Cairo and spent two weeks there and fortunately we came back with four points and we came home and we did the job as well at home.”
Mamelodi Sundowns lock horns with Al Merrikh on Saturday, 02 April in the CAF Champions League leg 2 of 2. Kick off is 15H00, live on SuperSport.
