Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has confirmed that utility player Thapelo Morena has been ruled out of their CAF Champions League match against Stade Malien on Friday in Pretoria.
Morena came in as a second-half substitute for Khuliso Mudau during Sundowns’ 2-0 win against Orbit College FC at Olympia Park in a Betway Premiership tie on Tuesday.
However, he sustained a serious injury only 10 minutes into the game after a foul by Orbit defender Thulani Jingana. The left-back only received a yellow card for the offence.
Despite Morena continuing with the match on the night, coach Cardoso has since revealed that the Bafana Bafana international has now been ruled out of their match this evening because of the same injury. He joins Mothobi Mvala, who is also still missing in action because of an injury.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS COACH NOT PLEASED WITH THAPELO MORENA’S INJURY
Cardoso compared the Morena incident to that of Jayden Adams, who was given a straight red card for dangerous play during their most recent 2-1 league win against Golden Arrows at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
“I don’t know if you saw, but Thapelo Morena will not be available for this [against Malien] match,” Cardoso confirmed to journalists.
“Jayden Adams, in the match against Golden Arrows, got a red card for the same action that happened against Orbit with Morena, and he got injured. He’s not available to play. So we don’t have Thapelo Morena in the match or on the bench. But that [Orbit] player got nothing, so we can continue to play against 11.
“Regarding Thapelo, it was the first time I spoke about a player getting injured because we really felt the approach given in that situation was not proper,” added Cardoso.
The CAF Champions League quarter-final first leg match between Sundowns and the Malian side will kick off at 20:00 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
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