Rhulani Mokwena slams Mamelodi Sundowns’ Miguel Cardoso, claiming 'FIFA rules broken' in heated MC Alger touchline clash

Following the spygate accusations earlier in the week and with so much at stake, it was expected that both Mamelodi Sundowns and MC Alger would approach the encounter as professionally as possible, though emotions were inevitably going to play a role.

The encounter saw Mamelodi Sundowns secure a 2‑0 victory, but controversy arose when coach Miguel Cardoso celebrated the team’s second goal by entering the away team's technical area.

Rhulani Mokwena addressed the issue after the match, telling the media that the behaviour was disrespectful and a clear breach of the rules.

“If Rhulani walked to that opposition area and it’s live on TV, believe me I know how many people would have made hullabaloo about that situation,” said Mokwena as reported by iDiski Times.

“The laws of the game prohibits any member of the technical team to go past fourth official and move across to the technical area of another team."

“If that’s not a clear sign of disrespecting opposition and the opposition’s technical staff, it’s a clear violation of not even CAF rules, but FIFA rules, it’s clear."

The South African coach also insisted that he should not be seen in the same light regarding the controversial act.

“It’s not a reflection on me, that question you should be asking to the person who left his technical area to go to the other technical area," Mokwena continued.

“And you have to find the reasons why that person did that and provoked because it’s a clear provocation. What’s the aim of that?"

“I don’t think you saw me moving towards that and being involved in the handbags. You cannot say Rhulani was misbehaving; it’s impossible.”

Meanwhile, Miguel Cardoso sought to downplay the incident, saying emotions naturally run high in high-stakes encounters like this one.

"But expect [the] Champions League match to be emotional from both sides, a lot of things at stake, nothing more," said Cardoso as per FarPost.