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MBABANE – It’s a do or die match for Leopard.
Royal Leopard Head Coach Edwin Matsebula is adamant of securing a victory against Mali’s AS Real Bamako in their TotalEnergies Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Confederation Cup clash, penned for this afternoon at Somhlolo National Stadium.
The match will kick off at 3pm. During a pre-match press briefing, Matsebula assured their readiness for the game despite injury concerns. At least three key players are still recuperating from injuries.
The injured players include left-back player Sikhumbuzo Magagula, centre-back Simanga Masangane and right-back Mlamuli Msibi. The police side will have to do without one of their prized assets, in Sifiso Matse who was ruled out, while serving a suspension after accumulating two yellow cards in their previous CAF games. He will serve a one-match ban as per the CAF rules.
After their elimination from the
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, Matsebula said their mission was to beat the Mali team and progress to the next stage of the CAF Confederation Cup. He highlighted the positive spirit among the players and their ambition to emerge victorious despite playing against a higher ranked opposition.
“We have done our research on our opponents. The last time I checked they were ranked 34th in Africa and us at 54 but this is the only game that can qualify us to the next round. If we are to quality, we will need all the three points tomorrow (today).
We have tasted the group stages so we have to go back and finish what we failed to finish off the last time,” Matsebula said.
Not intimidated by the Mali team players’ height advantage, Captain Muzi Mzoro said the boys were ready to fight. I think we have tried to analyse the team and on the physical side, they are quite tall. So we will try to play low balls and we hope to win so that we move on to the next round.”
The French-speaking Bamako team Head Coach Nouhaum Diani, through the interpretation of Bamako’s Vice
President Traor Issa expressed their excitement ahead of the match but preferred to keep their game plan a secret.
“We are happy to be here. Our delegation arrived safely and we are ready for the game. I can’t reveal what we know about our opponents but this is a high level competition and we will do our best to win,” Diani said.
AS Real Bakamo Captain Germain Berthe and his team had a feel of the refurbished national stadium’s turf in a 30-minute training session late yesterday afternoon in preparation for the continental clash.
FC Porto .............. 2
At. Madrid ........... 1
ORTO – Porto sealed top spot in Champions League Group B with a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid last night, with the Spanish side dumped out of Europe entirely as Bayer Leverkusen finished third.
Club Brugge finished second in their Champions League group after failing to win at Bayer Leverkusen, instead drawing 0-0 in their final Group B game. The Belgian club were overtaken by Porto.
Diego Simeone’s team were hoping to reach the Europa League after their elimination was sealed last week, but they lost on a miserable night in Portugal for the 2014 and 2016 runners-up.
Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 with second-placed surprise package
PUEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE