Sundowns must not be nice in Champions League – Mnguni

Mamelodi Sundowns will begin their quest for another Caf Champions League title with last season’s painful exit still fresh on their minds.

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Wydad Casablanca showed resolve to score two away goals in the semi-finals to dash The Brazilians’ hopes of getting their hands on the coveted trophy. They crashed out of Africa’s premier club competition to prolong their wait for another crown.

The 2016 champions get their 2023/24 campaign away to Burundian Premier League side Bumamuru in the second round of the preliminary stage on Friday.

Ahead of the tie, club legend Bennett Mnguni has warned Sundowns against being too “nice” if Rulani Mokwena and his players are to go all the way in the competition.

“When you play in the Champions League, you need to be dirty sometimes,” said Mnguni who was part of the Sundowns team that lost to Al Ahly in the 2001 Champions League final.

“We at Sundowns tend to be clean and not ruthless. When you’re playing away in the Champions League, you need to be ruthless because they must fear you. Not only by how you play but they must know that if this team scores first, they are going to intimidate us even more.

“We don’t need to be nice, remember when Wydad equalised last season? They kicked the ball out and made sure they don’t give us space. They rattle you and make you not concentrate on the game anymore and those things delay time.

“But I saw the Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro and some of the players now have that mentality. Teboho Mokoena will never give you space. Teboho will make sure you can’t play and we need such players that can frustrate opponents.”

Mnguni is not worried about playing a relatively unknown Bumamuru side that was only founded nine years ago. They won their domestic league last season by only a single point.

“Playing a team that you don’t know is sometimes not that difficult,” said the former Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder.

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“You relax more than you would when you play a team that you know. You can’t fear someone that you don’t know but I know the technical team of Sundowns will have sent people there to watch them play and to get video clips so that they know how to prepare. The good thing is that Sundowns started well in the local league. When you start well domestically, it becomes less difficult to adjust to the champions league.”

The winner of the two-legged affair will advance to the group stages. The second leg will be played on the last week of September.