Miguel Cardoso explains what Mamelodi Sundowns were targeting against Remo Stars after Masandawana had 'basically sealed' CAF Champions League group stage spot

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained what their objectives were in the second leg of the CAF Champions League fixture against Remo Stars on Sunday.

Masandawana came into the return game enjoying a massive advantage after beating the Nigerian side 5-1 in the first-leg game. This meant that Downs had one foot already in the group stage, and now Cardoso has explained that their objectives shifted from that point.

"The most important thing in the game was the first half, considering the strong attitude we brought on the pitch and the quality of football played throughout the first half. The dynamic control, the dominance – it's not easy to motivate the team to play this way after you win away 5-1 and you basically seal the qualification," Cardoso said after the match.

“Obviously, I didn't want to speak about that, but it's clear when you win 5-1, it's a big difference on this level for another team to be able to come back on the result. But the attitude was very professional throughout the week; we knew we wanted to score goals, we wanted to win again, and we wanted to score points for the CAF ranking," he added. 

“We want to highlight the football of Mamelodi Sundowns and the quality of the players; we wanted to highlight the work we are doing in terms of growing the team. We wanted to highlight football in South Africa, of course."

After they had already scored on Sunday, Cardoso said it was time to involve other players in order to give them playtime.

"At half-time, you are winning 2-0, and then the objectives of the match change a little bit, considering the management of the players. Bring on the pitch players that need extra motivation and give them minutes,” the former Esperance coach added. 

“I think the objectives that we had for this match were all accomplished, even taking out Keanu [Cupido], trying to avoid that he could get injured. The management of the game – obviously, the quality dropped in the second half, which is absolutely understandable, but congratulations to the players.

"The players made a wonderful qualification for the Champions League group stage, and obviously they need my congratulations for the character they showed from the first minute of the first match and throughout all the qualifying rounds."

Although their domestic campaign is far from smooth, the Tshwane giants began their Champions League journey with an emphatic 7-1 aggregate victory against Remo Stars.

The challenge for them now is to keep the momentum going as they hope to be successful this time around after defeat against Pyramids FC in the final last season.