Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena says they are gearing up for a difficult game against rivals Al Ahly in their third group stage of the Caf Champions League on Saturday.

The Brazilians will come into this game off the back of a 3-1 victory over Coton Sport after a brace by Cassius Mailula and a goal by Khuliso Mudau

Al Ahly, meanwhile, will look to bounce back after suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to Al-Hilal through a decisive goal by Makabi Lilepo at the Al-Hilal Stadium in Omdurman.

Sundowns will next take on the Red Eagles in their third group stage game which is scheduled to take place at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo next weekend.

“Congratulations to Mamelodi Sundowns, the technical team and the players. I thought in the first half we were very good, we played according to instructions and everything went according to plan,” Mokwena told his club’s official website.

“We got the two goals, and then Coton Sport reacted and think [their substitutions] were good to bring intensity in midfield.

“In the second half I think we struggled a little bit in the beginning, we were put under a lot of pressure. We will improve, we have to get better. Now we focus on recovering the team and getting ready for the difficult game against Al Ahly.

“We will get better, we have to get better. A lot of my players were playing for the first time in the Champions League, Cassius Mailula, Teboho Mokoena, Ronwen Williams, we had Denis Onyango as the number one last season, Mothobi Mvala, Grant Kekana and Marcelo Allende. This is the experience we’ll get and we’ll get better, its a very big three points.

“I’ll say again, there are four very good teams in this group, we still have games to play. We still have to host Coton Sport in Pretoria. The focus is to get as close as possible to 10 points so that we get ourselves mathematically into a position where we can think of ourselves in the quarter-finals.”

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