Mamelodi Sundowns boss Rulani Mokwena admitted that he still feels profound sadness for not winning the CAF Champions League title in the previous season.
Sundowns exited the tournament in the semi-finals without a single loss to Wydad Casablanca due to a 0-0 draw in Morocco and a 2-2 draw in South Africa in the second leg.
Mokwena stated, as revealed by South African outlet Kickoff: “I don’t know if the players have moved on or not, but I still feel the pain of exiting without a loss in the previous edition of the tournament.
“I haven’t gotten over it because I don’t think we deserved to exit from the tournament. Our results were excellent. Our performance was great. We defeated the champion (Al Ahly) 5-2 and many other teams.
“We played against Wydad in two matches, and I believe our exit on the away goal rule was somewhat unfair, in addition to the goals we conceded, we lacked some luck and luck did not favor us in the chances we had against Peter Shalulile and Themba Zwane,” he continued.
“You must always learn lessons from these defeats, and I strongly believe that you have to endure the pain because it drives you to develop and improve for the better.”
Rulani Mokwena concluded: “I admit that I have not recovered from this matter, but the only thing that will compensate for this pain is winning the title this season, this is not an easy matter because you are competing with strong clubs, but we have all the potential to fight until the end.”
Mokwena’s Sundowns recently secured a CAF Champions League quarter-final spot with a 2-0 win over FC Nouadhibou on Stade de la Capitale in Mauritania.
