Pitso Mosimane will come up against his former side this weekend as his Al Ahly side take on Mamelodi Sundowns in their Caf Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash, with ‘Jingles’ expecting a tough game against the ‘monster’ he created.
Mosimane left Downs to take up the challenge of coaching the biggest club on the continent and he got his reign off to the perfect start guiding his side to a treble which included the league, cup and Caf Champions League.
Things, however, have become more difficult for the former Bafana Bafana coach in recent times with his side trailing league-leaders Zamalek by four points, albeit with two games in hand.
It has, though, been his side’s recent lacklustre displays which have copped him criticism.
Mosimane guided Ahly to a 1-1 draw in a top-of-the-table clash with Zamalek on Monday night. Speaking after the game, Mosimane bemoaned his side’s hectic schedule in the league with the match against Downs quickly approaching.
‘Sundowns are a good team, I created a monster and it’s here to bite me. It’s OK, it’s football. I saw Pep [Guardiola] playing against Barcelona when he was at Bayern [Munich] and he lost to Barcelona. I hope I don’t lose to Sundowns,’ Mosimane told the media.
‘But, ja, they are resting, we are playing, so what does it mean to you? For me, if I had my way, because Ahly is the only team that is playing Caf Champions League representing Egypt, we would protect Ahly if I was Egypt. We don’t put the game of Zamalek, most especially when Sundowns are pushing their games back. We didn’t even rest but it’s the way it is in Egypt. So, hopefully, but one day more, one day less, it doesn’t really mean that we will lose the pressure. But, yes, of course the conditions are different, but we just see that we dropped a little bit in the end but it’s the programme, the schedule of Egypt,’ the coach said.