Durban — Mamelodi Sundowns have their work cut out for them after they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Angolan club Petro de Luanda in their CAF Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Eastadio 11 de Novembro in Angola Saturday night.
Despite the loss, Sundowns are still very much in the tie. They did get a vital away goal heading into the second leg of the tie that will be played in South Africa next weekend.
It took Sundowns just five minutes to take the lead. Masandawana were awarded a free-kick after Thapelo Morena was fouled on the edge of the area. Lyle Lakay stepped up to take the set-piece and struck an effort into the bottom corner which gave the opposition keeper no chance of saving.
A few minutes later, Mosa Lebusa tried to double the lead for the South Africans, only to see his shot go too high. It did not take Petro long too find an equalizer which they got through Tiago Azulão. The 34-year-old got the better of Lebusa and finished calmly after having found himself on the receiving end of a cross.
The veteran caused problems for Downs and nearly put his side ahead five minutes later as his overhead kick was only narrowly wide. Petro started to exert their dominance but surprisingly, Peter Shalulile missed a golden opportunity to put Downs ahead again after the half hour mark. Themba Zwane hit the post and the Namibian then failed to hit the rebound on target.
Unsurprisingly, Petro took the lead in first half stoppage time through Yano and the goal came after he was teed in by Azulao.
Petro continued to dominate in the second half as the game’s tempo began to decrease. Shalulile was having a rare off day as he had an opportunity to equalize again early in the second half but ended up uncharacteristically getting his technique all wrong.
Denis Onyango was required to make an alert stop from a long-range shot and shortly after that, Azulao put the ball into the net but it did not count as he was flagged for offside.
Sundowns tried to freshen things up late in the second half as they brought on Mothobi Mvala and Kermit Erasmus on for Lebohang Mokoena and Zwane. Erasmus did have one shot at goal which went wide.
Sundowns will next be in action next Saturday as they host Petro de Luanda in the second leg of the tie at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
IOL Sport