The war of words continued between Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena and TS Galaxy boss Sead Ramovic following their clubs’ intense 1-1 draw at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The fierce battle saw both sides go into the half-time with either side refusing to concede a goal. The ferocious battle continued in the second with Puso Dithejane breaking the deadlock in the 78th minute when he scored his first goal in the league after receiving a cross from Samukelo Kabini.
Sundowns’ long-standing unbeaten league run was hanging by a thread until Peter Shalulile scored a header from Aubrey Modiba’s cross in the 85th minute to ensure that the undefeated streak is stressed to 53 matches.
Mokwena called this the worst match that he has ever been part of in his football career but lauded his side for refusing to go down.
“It’s the worst game of football I’ve been involved in from a lot of aspects, but at the same time, I’ve got to congratulate this group of players. They were unbelievable. They just refused to lose. So proud of the Sundowns players. Proud of the Sundowns family and everybody there. We fought very, very hard and I’m very proud of them,” said Mokwena.
Ramovic also did not shy away from expressing his thoughts on the game as well as his opponents for the night citing that they must buy world-class footballers including Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to be able to defeat his side.
“We can see again, that you don’t only win with million dollar players, you can also sometimes win with a million dollar attitude. We don’t have financial power like them, to spend over R200 million and to be outclassed and dominated the whole game, it is unbelievable, and a credit to my players. If they want to beat us again, maybe they must buy Mbappe, Ronaldo and Messi, if not they must take this highest education.” Said Ramovic after the match.
Hours before the match several reports surfaced that Galaxy are suing Rulani over defamatory comments levelled against the German-Serbian coach in a post-match interview last month.
These two have been at war since their Carling Knockout Cup meeting where Benard Parker was stretched out of the match following a rough tackle by Bongani Zungu which was met with multiple criticisms.
Written by Siphesihle Soni