Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokoena believes the players’ attitude was one of the main components of his side securing their win over Al-Hilal in the penultimate Caf Champions League Group A clash.

The Brazilians booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after claiming a 4-2 victory over Al-Hilal at the Al-Hilal Stadium in Sudan on Saturday afternoon.

Sundowns will now finish as leaders of Group A with 13 points from five matches and a game in hand, while the Sudan side are placed third – level on four points with bottom-of-the-group Al-Merrikh.

“Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns for initially qualifying. We came into this match with 10 points, yesterday’s result allowed us to mathematically be in the knockouts and it’s not an easy game to play particularly when you know that you’ve qualified,” Mokwena told his club’s official website.

“It becomes more difficult particularly when you have to deal with the heat, the pitch and then you also have to play against a very good Al Hilal side that is trying to qualify.

“What made it even more difficult, was having to play most of the match with one man down; this made the game very very difficult for our team. But, instead of complaining, we got on with the business, we showed respect for our badge and for our nation, and played the game the way it was supposed to be played.

“What helped us win was the players’ attitude, we just have a very good group of players and a very good group of players with good attitude.

“We knew that we had to deal with [Mohamed] Ouattara’s diagonal balls, [Ibrahim] Mustapha’s speed, Abdulrahman is always a threat in and around the box, [Abdul] Ajagun in between the lines is creative and creates a lot of possibilities for them to score, but we were prepared and the players showed great spirit and great tactical discipline, all the credit goes to our players.”