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Petro draw ends Sundowns’ Africa dream

It’s the end of an adventure for Mamelodi Sundowns! An African dream shattered to the smithereens after visiting Petro de Luanda held them to a 1-1 draw [winning 3-2 on aggregate] at the FNB Stadium.

It has been an encouraging run for the South African champions, whose only blemish on the continent this season was the 2-1 loss to Petro in Angola’s capital last week. 

Until then, Downs had blown everything that came their way, including reigning African champions Al Ahly, twice. Unbeaten in the group stages, they had a remarkable run and will look back at the early stages of the competition with a sense of pride.

But ultimately, they just came up short at the FNB Stadium as they struggled to get goals to kill off the game. 

Themba Zwane could have thrust them ahead at the stroke of halftime after the first-ever VAR review on South African soil handed them a penalty. From that penalty, ‘Mshishi’ hit the outside of the upright post. 

Straight afterwards, it was the break and their fans, who thronged the FNB Stadium in numbers, expected a better performance in the second half. Of course, they gave it everything they could during a second half of tremendous spirit and pinned Petro back.

The pressure paid off in the 48th minute when Brian Onyango was on hand to tap home a rebound from Lyle Lakay’s free-kick. 

The visitors then got a penalty after 15 minutes of backpedalling. After a VAR review, the referee adjudged Andile Jali to have fouled a Petro forward in the box. From the resultant penalty, Tiago Azulao sent Denis Onyango the wrong way. 

Sundowns’ persistent attacks did not pay off as the Angolans absorbed all the pressure, holding on till the end. Petro will now face Wydad AC who beat CR Belouizdad 1-0 on aggregate in the other semi-final. 

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