Following Mamelodi Sundowns’ crucial victory over Espérance in the CAF Champions League, Miguel Cardoso, with his insider knowledge, has pointed out the key strength of the Tunisian giants.
The Brazilians edged Esperance 1-0 thanks to Peter Shalulile’s second-half strike in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Tuesday at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
Cardoso was delighted with the win, hoping his side will be able to go through to the next stage when they face off against Esperance in the return tie.
The Portuguese coach also revealed his analysis of their opponents, noting that his former club Esperance are adept at exploiting the space left behind by opponents’ attacking players.
CARDOSO ON WHERE ESPERANCE POSES A DANGER
“I have to push them [players] to play quality football [in the second leg]. But I believe that CAF Champions League are matches for grown-ups and not for kids. It is not for naive players,” said Cardoso.
“My job is to cope with the moments, but believe me when I say we have to play there [in Tunisia] to win. But playing there to win is also not being naive in the way you attack. We need to know how to attack them because there’s always a moment [to lose the ball] when you attack and you suffer from that.
“And that is a moment where Esperance are very strong. So we have to cope with those [chances]. We need to be very wise. The moment you lose the ball, how do you avoid making mistakes from that?
“We need to be very aggressive on set pieces because we have good headers. But we can also score there [in Tunisia]. We’ve been scoring everywhere.”
The Betway Premiership giants will take on Esperance on Tuesday, 8 April in the second leg at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi at 9 PM.
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