‘Sundowns are capable of winning the Champions League again,’ insists Mokwena

Mamelodi Sundowns have had two shots at a Champions League final and they have tasted both success and defeat, with their triumph coming in 2016, while they suffered heartbreak in 2001.

But there is an air of belief in the Chloorkop camp that Masandawana will get their hands on the “holy grail” once again.

Downs head coach, Rulani Mokwena speaks about ambition versus obsession and claims that his side harbour the former when it comes to the Champions League.

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“The ambition to win the Champions League is not an obsession, it is the same ambition that comes from wanting to win the DStv Premiership and the domestic cups,” said Mokwena.

“The ambition to win the Champions League is a dream, not an obsession. Obsession comes from darker spaces … eventually, Sundowns will win the Champions League.”

Sundowns have qualified for the quarterfinals and will take on Cotonsport in Saturday night’s dead rubber in Pretoria, and while the group stages have been somewhat of a breeze for The Brazilians, the real test will come in the knockout stages, where they have had little luck since winning the trophy some seven years ago.

“I believe that we have the capacity to win the Champions League. If I don’t have the belief then I should not coach Sundowns. We have very good players who have the ambition of being in that space,” said Mokwena.

Difficult to win

Among the teams that have already qualified, five teams have won the trophy and that, for Mokwena at least, goes to show how difficult it is to win the grandest prize in African club football.

“Do I think that winning the Champions League is going to be easy? No, it never is. You look at the quality of the teams that are already in the quarterfinals like Raja Casablanca who have not won the title since 1999,” said Mokwena.

“There are teams that are a lot of years older than us such as Al Ahly, Wydad Casablanca, they have been trying to win the Champions League for many decades, and that shows you that we have no God-given right to consider ourselves as favourites, or the team that can win the Champions League by just pitching up for the matches. We need to work very hard for it.”