Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says he is not expecting the Tunisian crowd to boo and whistle him ahead of his return to Tunis for the second leg of their CAF Champions League quarterfinals clash against former club Esperance de Tunis.

The Brazilians claimed a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the first leg in Pretoria this week and will be determined to finish the job up North when they lock horns with the Taraji on Tuesday for a spot in the semi-finals of Africa’s elite club competition.

The Portuguese mentor, who knocked out his current employers with the Tunisian giants in the semi-finals of the same competition last season before parting ways with the club in October 2024, is anticipating a warm welcome upon his return.

“I don’t expect to be booed when I arrive there because I know how I came out of Esperance, I know the relationship I have with the fans. But anyway, whatever it is, I always take boos or whistles as fear,” said Cardoso.

“So, I respect those people a lot, I’m just on the other side. As I said before the [first leg] match started, the fact that we’re on different sides doesn’t make us enemies; it just makes us exactly what we are, playing on the other side.

“And what to expect in general? I hope I can keep my emotions in the right way so that I have big respect for the opponents all the time.”

Cardoso went on to state that continental football matches in Tunisia have a less aggressive atmosphere compared to domestic rivalries. Furthermore, the 52-year-old called for fierce rivalries to stay within the game and not extend beyond the 90 minutes.

“They are just friends, colleagues, other people that are trying to do the same job that we are trying to do, and they also pray to God and sometimes to the same God. So, why should we position ourselves differently rather than accepting and understanding that it’s a football game?” the Masandawana tactician added.

“We are going to the Club World Cup, so what is that competition rather than bringing the best out of the people that work on this phenomenon, this business and putting them all together to make the world enjoy the game we play.

“So, anyway, over there the Champions League matches have a different ambience to the ones of a normal championship because the rules that CAF induces in the matches are very important to respect and it means the ambience in the stadium becomes more positive and less aggressive rather than the one you have in the national championship in Tunisia.” 

It remains to be seen whether peace will be maintained at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi as the two sets of supporters were involved in a heated, unruly behavior at Loftus Stadium, which saw the visiting supporters evacuated to the pitch for their safety.