Mamelodi Sundowns will look to complete the job when they visit Esperance for their CAF Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday.
Sundowns are away to Esperance, who will host them at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Tunis, looking to overturn the PSL champions’ advantage and advance to the semi-final.
Miguel Cardoso returns to his former stomping ground while carrying a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Pretoria and will hope that his team can protect what they have, or add onto it, to make it to the semi-final for a third straight season.
Sundowns will have memories of last season fresh as it is Esperance who eliminated them at the semi-final stage, winning 1-0 home and away, but this time round, they will hope to avoid lightning striking twice.
Esperance coach Maher Kanzari has promised to right the wrongs from the first leg and outscore Sundowns at what will be a hostile venue for the Brazilians and it remains to be seen if he will live up to the promise.
Head-to-head
This will be the 10th meeting between Esperance and Sundowns and the Tunisian giants will head into the game in a confident mood, even if they lost the first leg.
This is because Esperance have won four of the nine meetings, Sundowns managing just two, while three have ended in draws.
Matches between these two teams have been low-scoring with Esperance beating Sundowns 1-0 both home and away last season while that was preceded by a 2-1 win for the Tunisian giants and 0-0 draw both in 2017.
It points to another low-scoring match on Tuesday even though Kanzari thinks otherwise.
Form guide
What will give Sundowns more confidence is the fact that Esperance have not been doing so well at home as they had won just two of their previous five matches prior to the loss in Pretoria which has left them in a tight battle for the title.
The Tunisian giants are joint top of the standings with Monastir, both on 53 points, while Club Africain are third on 52, as Etoile du Sahel occupy fourth spot with 49 points, all having played 25 games.
Meanwhile, Sundowns had lost just one of their previous nine games before the win over Esperance, a 2-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates in the PSL, with a draw against Golden Arrows in the league the only other match they did not win over that period.
They enjoy a 12-point lead over Orlando Pirates with the Buccaneers having three matches in hand but their form gives them confidence of a win.
What have they said?
Sundowns defender Grant Kekana says they already know what to expect from the 65,000-seater arena that will be full to the brim thanks to some inside information from Cardoso.
“We know what to expect. Our coach [Miguel Cardoso] has also briefed us, but we have also been in this competition for a number of years, so we know the hostility… it is something we won’t focus on,” Kekana said as per BusinessDay.
“A 0-0 result would be a positive result, a 1-0 win is a positive result at home, but it doesn’t mean anything. Champions League matches are for grown-ups, not for kids and not for naive players. If you suffer a blow in the last 10 minutes then you will be crying because you will give them a major advantage.”
Meanwhile, Kanzari has promised to make sure Sundowns suffer on enemy territory.
“What I can tell you is that it will be a big game in Tunisia, if they can score one, we can score three and go through – so we’re playing attacking football, I’m confident in playing attacking football in Tunisia,” said Kanzari.
Time & where to watch
The match will kick off at 21:00 and will be live on SuperSport TV (SS202) and SABC.
Predicted Sundowns XI
Williams, Mudau, Kekana, Suarez, Modiba, Allende, Mokoena, Adams, Ribeiro, Morena, Shalulile
