‘Close Our Ears’: Cardoso Issues Defiant Warning To Sundowns Ahead Of Morocco Cauldron

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso urged his players to block out a deafening Moroccan crowd in next weekend’s CAF Champions League final second leg, despite carrying a slender 1-0 advantage over AS FAR Rabat.

Sundowns will travel to Morocco holding a slender advantage after securing a 1-0 victory in the first leg at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts’ superiority paid off in the 37th minute when Aubrey Modiba curled a superb free kick past goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti to give Sundowns the lead.

However, the South African champions could easily have carried a bigger advantage into the second leg after Brayan León and Kutlwano Letlhaku missed several clear opportunities to extend the scoreline.

León, in particular, endured a frustrating evening after failing to convert two one-on-one chances before firing another effort wide.

“I think we should have scored more goals,” Cardoso told SuperSport after the match.

“We should have created a bigger advantage and put ourselves in a stronger position. But, anyway, we proved to ourselves that we can compete with this team and with any other team.

“We need to take this energy into the second leg because, of course, we can fight for the trophy. We should not become negative because we did not score more goals.

“We now need to focus on the second match and be able to close our ears to whatever happens in the stands. We must simply play the football we know we can play anywhere on the continent. That is what we have to do.”

The decisive second leg will be played at Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah, the same venue that hosted the Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal earlier this year.

This second leg will be the ultimate tactical conclusion to the first-ever Champions League final contested between two Portuguese managers (Cardoso vs. Alexandre Santos).