Star man Billiat back to torment Chiefs

Khama Billiat’s 2016 with Mamelodi Sundowns read a bit like a Hollywood script, as the Brazilians’ star man helped Masandawana win the 2016 Absa Premiership and the 2016 Caf Champions League.

The Zimbabwean forward won the coveted South African Footballer-of-the-Year award too, and even jetted off with Sundowns to the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan.

This year, however, has not gone quite so smoothly, as a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations finals with Zimbabwe was followed by an injury that has kept him out of action.

Billiat was even involved in a scene that no one would want in their true-life drama, as he witnessed an ATM bombing at a petrol station in Kyalami at the end of Feburary. He rather brushes off the incident, and firmly refutes reports that he had his wallet and watch stolen.

“Nothing happened to me, it was the wrong story, they were robbing the shop and stopped me and told us not to do anything on the side. They did whatever they did, so I am happy I was not robbed,” he says.

“They bombed the ATM and took money from the shop … and left everyone there … the freakish part was that they had big AK47s and they covered themselves, like when you watch the movies.”

Billiat could return to the Sundowns lineup on Saturday as they take on Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium in a vital Absa Premiership match in this season’s title race.

“It is looking positive and hopefully I will be back as soon as domestic action comes back,” he said ahead of the international break.

There has been no doubt that Sundowns have missed Billiat of late – they have picked up just two points from their last three league games, without scoring a single goal, while they only scraped into the 2017 Champions League group stages at the expense of Kampala Capital City Authority.

Sundowns would still go top of the Premiership, however, if they win their games in hand on the rest, and Billiat has no doubt they will recover.

“We always believe, we have got a good squad and those things make us strong. Most of the time when it goes bad we always bounce back,” he said.

While Billiat admits it has been difficult to watch this bad patch from the sidelines, he is humble about whether he could have made a difference had he been fit.

“It has been tough, but I make the same mistakes, missing in front of goal sometimes. I can only make the team stronger because of the competition it creates, it gives the coach a headache on who to play or not.”

There is no chance, meanwhile, of Billiat pulling out of tackles when he does come back, in fear of aggravating his injury.

“When I play I don’t think about my injuries, I won’t be scared of going into tackles,” he says.

“If you are a chicken because you are coming back from an injury you shouldn’t play football.”

Sundowns, meanwhile, will face a rather different proposition in the Champions League group stages this year, with the draw set for April 26. Last year

Masandawana were unexpected winners, going from surprise re-instatement in the competition to lifting the trophy with victory in the final against Zamalek. This time around they are likely to be marked men.

“It can only make us better,” says Billiat.

“Now every game is tough, we have to show up as champions and come up with something strong … come up with different tactics, to win games from set pieces, to always be upgrading our game and getting better. I am sure everyone is ready to go out like I am and keep it at home.”