Pitso Mosimane has explained why he protected the Mamelodi Sundowns fan who confronted Orlando Pirates assistant coach Rulani Mokwena on Saturday.

Sundowns and Pirates played to a goalless draw at Loftus Versfeld in their mammoth Absa Premiership encounter, but the clash was marred by ugly incidents prior, during and after the clash as the rivalry reached boiling point.

Moments before the half-time break, a Masandawana fan attempted to attack Mokwena and PSL spokesperson Lux September has condemned any violent actions taken on the day.

‘We condemn that incident in the strongest possible way because no fan should come anywhere near the bench,’ September said.

‘Even myself, I never get close to the technical area because that area is sacred and coaches must be given space to do their work during the match.

‘We will get all the information from the parties involved and issue a statement at a later stage‚’ he added.

Former Bafana Bafana mentor Mosimane said that the incident brought flashbacks of the commotion caused in the aftermath of Sundowns’ 6-0 thumping of Pirates in 2017.

‘I just saw a lot of people coming to me. I saw a lot of black and white coming to me so what I am going to do? I’m gonna run or be swallowed? I had to attack. So I attacked. I pushed back‚’ said Mosimane after the match.

‘It should not happen. The last time I saw people coming like that was when we won 6-0 here and I had to run for cover.

‘I thought it’s the same thing and I said, “what’s happening now?” But I saw one yellow person with a lot of black and white and I said, “I cannot let the yellow be swallowed also.”

‘I must protect the yellow. It’s unfortunate I’m the nearest one and I had to protect the yellow because he was chased by so many black and white people.

‘The poor guy was running and I thought “let’s help this guy”‚ you know. So I said, “this is just one guy‚ happy guy”. That guy, if I didn’t go there, he was going to be swallowed,’ he concluded.

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