Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has called on the club’s fans to match the atmosphere created by Caf Champions League opponents Wydad Casabanca when the sides battle it out for top spot in Group C on Saturday.

The Brazilians and the Moroccans renew their growing rivalry on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld Stadium where Sundowns will be looking to hold on to the top spot in their Caf Champions League group in order to avoid the bigger teams in the quarter-finals.

Both teams have already qualified for the next round, but it is by no means a dead rubber as Downs look to avenge their elimination at the hands of Wydad in last year’s semi-finals and the quarter-finals the year before.

Wydad eliminated the Brazilians in the semi-finals of the Champions League last year and ended their journey in the quarter-finals in 2017 when Sundowns were the reigning champions. This has resulted in this match being a tense affair due to the close nature of the results and the competitive spirit in both camps.

Speaking ahead of the match Mosimane highlighted the growing rivalry between the teams while also calling on his fans to flock to the stadium on Saturday.

‘The game against Wydad is forever competitive, it’s a derby of some sort. As much as we have both qualified, you will see on Saturday that those games are never easy. There is a lot of pride at stake, bragging rights,’ Mosimane said.

‘But more importantly, what is really important is who finishes first in the group. You don’t want to finish first because of the sake of it. You want to finish first because we want to avoid the No 1s in other groups, the Esperances and [TP] Mazembes. That’s what we are going to fight for, basically it’s like fighting to qualify.

‘They’ve been good. They have helped us. They have made noise. They have carried us. They are our 12th player. But the challenge is to match Wydad. If we are expected to match Wydad on the pitch, as the players and technical team, I would like to believe that our supporters also want to put the challenge against Wydad. You see how they fill the stadium, the noise they make. I have a picture of their supporters with drums. They have about six. We have three now, we are moving up a little bit. Those drums make a lot of noise. That’s the challenge. They sang for us. They gave us a standing ovation. They chanted my name. It was humbling. We need to show, as the yellow nation, that we can match or do better. That’s the challenge to my people,’ he concluded.