Mamelodi Sundowns secured a narrow 1-0 victory over AS FAR in the first leg of the CAF Champions League final at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday.
The South African champions delivered a dominant performance throughout the encounter, controlling possession and keeping AS FAR side under constant pressure for most of the match.
The decisive moment came through a stunning free-kick from Aubrey Modiba, whose powerful strike proved enough to separate both sides in a tense final clash.
Sundowns were largely superior across all departments and repeatedly tested the AS FAR defence with dangerous attacking movements and shots on target.
In contrast, the visitors struggled to create meaningful opportunities and failed to register a single shot on target during the entire match.
Despite the disappointing performance, AS FAR head coach Alexandre Santos remained defiant after the game.
“It was tough, very tough and the first half was more than we wanted to close the space, Sundowns is very strong, we did very well.”
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“We get the ball a lot of times and we made our counter-attacks and transitions very well, we could make better and maybe if we made better the second half was easy.”
“But when we conceded one goal as we conceded was not our fault but it’s the great ability of the player of Sundowns.”
“It’s very difficult and Sundowns when get space it’s one of the amazing teams of this continent.”
The second leg of the CAF Champions League final is scheduled to take place on May 24, in Morocco.
AS FAR will take confidence from their impressive home form during this season’s CAF Champions League campaign, having won five of their six matches at home so far.
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