Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has admitted that his side has been drawn into a difficult CAF Champions League group.
The Brazilians will play Maniema Union in their first Group B clash, starting on November 26, and also face AS FAR and Raja Casablanca.
Last season under the leadership of Rulani Mokwena, Sundowns made it as far as the quarter-finals where they lost on penalties to Young Africans.
Reflecting on their opponents this term, Mngqithi explained that in order to win the competition, they have to be prepared to overcome a number of strong teams.
The Downs boss said in the Citizen: “Generally, all these groups present a difficulty for anyone but be it as difficult as it may be, if you want to win it, you want to play these kinds of matches.
“It will be very difficult to know which team is going to be difficult between AS FAR and Raja because AS FAR has been on the rise and they have done well in the recent past.
“Raja was one of the dominant teams previously and they went out and now they are back again at the expense of Wydad Casablanca.
“Raja performed well last season, they did very well and broke a lot of records. AS FAR were pipped to the championship in the latter stages. From where I’m sitting, it would be ignorant of us to think that AS FAR would be less difficult than Raja.”
On Maniema, who are playing in the group stage for the first time in their history, and who Sundowns have beaten previously three years ago in the second preliminary round of the competition, Mngqithi added: “It’s a banana skin because when we played them in 2021, they were a new team that we didn’t even know about.
“They were really a good team and we haven’t really looked at them closely now but when the time is closer, we’ll start following them but for them to qualify with TP Mazembe in the DRC is a clear sign that they have really grown.”