Pitso Mosimane has spoken highly of his former side Mamelodi Sundowns as he prepares his Al Ahly side to face the DStv Premiership log leaders.
Ahead of what is his side’s biggest game this season, Pitso has lamented over his side’s tight domestic schedule while heaping praise on his former side Mamelodi Sundowns, who he described as being a monster.
Mosimane has been under intense pressure over his side’s lack of top performances which has left them trailing Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League by four points, although with two games in hand.
In a clash of two of the biggest teams in the country on Monday, the League fixture ended in a draw, which wasn’t the best result for the Red Devils with Sundowns expected in town for the CAF Champions League quarterfinals.
After that league game, Mosimane praised Masandawana class as a team and did question the Egyptian Premier League over his side’s complicated schedule.
“Sundowns are a good team, I created a monster and it’s here to bite me. It’s okay, it’s football. I saw Pep (Guardiola) playing against Barcelona when he was at Bayern (Munich) and he lost to Barcelona, I hope I don’t lose to Sundowns,” Mosimane told journalists.
“But ja, they are resting, we are playing so what does it mean to you? For me, if I had my way, because Ahly is the only team that is playing CAF Champions League representing Egypt, we would protect Ahly if I was Egypt. We don’t put the game of Zamalek, most especially when Sundowns are pushing their games back. We didn’t even rest but it’s the way it is in Egypt so hopefully, but one day more, one day less, it doesn’t really mean that we will lose the pressure. But, yes of course the conditions are different, but we just see that we dropped a little bit in the end but it’s the program, the schedule of Egypt,” the coach said.
Pitso does have a point based on fixture scheduling. Since the 30th of April, Al-Ahly have been playing at least a game every three days. As it stands, the Egyptian Premier League are not willing to extend fixtures further to help them battle a tight schedule. On the other hand, the PSL are fully supporting Sundowns and Orlando Pirates to go all the way and the extension of the schedule to accommodate for the giants says it all.
However, both managers will have to do the talking on the pitch as we prepare for one of the most exciting games on the continent this season.