Just like like Michael Jordan: Mokwena makes Caf Champions League claim - 'Mamelodi Sundowns won't be failures if they miss out on trophy'
- Sundowns play CR Belouizdad this weekend
- Downs are favourites to win Caf CL
- Mokwena plays down their chances
WHAT HAPPENED: Mamelodi Sundowns already have one leg in the Caf Champions League semi-final after managing a 4-1 win in the first leg of the quarter-final against CR Belouizdad.
This season, Premier Soccer League champions have excelled in the continental elite club competition, defeating the likes of Al Ahly convincingly and topping their group before their convincing win last week.
Masandawana are the favourites to clinch this season's trophy, but Mokwena insists they cannot be branded failures if they fail to achieve the target.
WHAT HE SAID: "Will not winning the Champions League define us as failures? Maybe in the eyes of people. But in my eyes, I look at how this group has performed, the level of consistency, the type of football we were able to play even while chasing good results and having the pressure. For me, that is already a success," Mokwena said as quoted by Times Live.
"But in football, it is about results. We live in a space where we chase perfection and perfection for some clubs is just about results. For other clubs that have huge expectations, have connotations that are attacked with style and a little bit more history, we have to play a certain way.
"Someone was telling me the other day that Michael Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA and only won the championship six times. Do you want to tell me that in the other nine seasons, he was a failure?
"It is the same with football, we are going to try our best to win the Champions League. Will we win the Champions League? I don’t know. Can we win the Champions League? Then the answer is 100%."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Since winning their maiden Caf Champions League trophy in 2016 under Pitso Mosimane, the Brazilians have struggled to match the best in the continent despite their domestic dominance.
They were eliminated in the quarter-final stage in the last two campaigns, but many believe Mokwena has a real chance of guiding the PSL giants to continental glory.
WHAT NEXT: The Brazilians will just be aiming at finishing the job against CR Belouizdad this weekend and start semi-final preparations.