The second-leg quarterfinal matches will take place across the continent on Tuesday and Wednesday, with both the Buccaneers and the Brazilians currently holding leads in their respective contests.
The Pirates will host MC Alger at the Orlando Stadium on Wednesday evening, having secured a crucial 1-0 advantage thanks to Mohau Nkota’s goal.
Pirates coach Jose Riveiro mentioned that everything is possible if they perform well in the upcoming game.
In his words “This is just the first 90 minutes of this round. We have to play the second half now in Orlando and everything is possible… it’s still open, we know we have to play a good game at home and try to make this result in a good result for us,”
On Tuesday, Sundowns will have an away match at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium against Esperance de Tunis. Miguel Cardoso’s side holds a 1-0 aggregate lead thanks to Peter Shalulile’s first-leg strike, and the Portuguese coach wants this clash to be ‘business as usual’.
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The Sundowns coach noted, “My job is to make the players believe that this is a match just like other matches. So 11 players have to play football, they have the strength, they believe in the Champions League, they have won the Champions League. They know what to expect and we know what we can do.”
Tuesday also sees Egyptian sides Al Ahly and Pyramids FC take leads to Morocco and Mauritania respectively.
Al Ahly, the reigning Champions League title holders, looked very disappointed with their narrow 1-0 win over Sudan’s Al Hilal last week, as they expect an extremely difficult return game in the Blue Wave’s adopted home in Nouakchott because of an ongoing civil war in their home country).
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Pyramids, by contrast, have one foot in the semifinals thanks to their emphatic 4-1 triumph over the Moroccan Armed Forces team, ASFAR, and will be confident of getting the job done at the Honneur Stadium in Meknes.
The four aggregate winners will advance to the semifinals, which will be played on 18-19 and 25-26 April. Sundowns-Esperance and Al Ahly-Al Hilal are on one side of the draw, while the other is made up of MCA-Pirates and Pyramids-ASFAR.
CAF Champions League midweek fixtures
Times CAT
Quarterfinal, second leg – Aggregate scores in parenthesis
Tuesday 8 April
21:00: Esperance de Tunis v Mamelodi Sundowns (0-1)
21:00: ASFAR v Pyramids FC (1-4)
21:00: Al Hilal v Al Ahly (0-1)
Wednesday 9 April
18:00: Orlando Pirates v MC Alger (1-0)
