Sundowns will once again do battle against Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the same group, alongside Sudanese outfit Al Hilal and Coton Sport from Cameroon.
The Brazilians coach Rulani Mokwena says their objective would be to get as much points as possible to qualify for the knockout stages.
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Unlike in the previous seasons, Mokwena did not highlight the desire to top the group.
"Firstly we have to recognize that there's a lot of difficult teams that have made it into the Group Stages of the Champions League and over the years it has become a tough competition for all teams," Mokwena said via the club's official website.
"The number one goal we have is to come out of the group stages strong, get as many points as we can to qualify and make it to the knock-out stages."
The young tactician also revealed that they already have their analysts working on getting intel on their opposition and suggested that they expect the games, particularly against the Red Devils, to be "strategic and tactical".
"We fortunately already have our analysts working around the clock to gather as much information as they can [and] because over the years Sundowns versus Al-Ahly has become a big fixture, we expect the games to be more strategic and tactical," he added.
Masandawana may need to be strategic in their approach in the group stages after they were eliminated in the quarter-finals for a third consecutive season, following defeat to Petro de Luanda on aggregate last term.
In all the quarter-final exits since 2020, the Tshwane giants topped their group, meaning they entered the knockout phase as favourites.
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The favourites tag has seemingly not helped Sundowns but of more importance could be the permutations in the latter phase of the group stages.
In the past, Sundowns emphasized that they are a big team and are expected to top the group but teams finishing second have actually proved to have a favorable route in the knockout stages, as Kaizer Chiefs, for example, also reached the final in the 2020/21 season after finishing second in their group, despite a transfer ban.
So when Mokwena talks about games being "strategic and tactical", Sundowns could be more mindful of which team they are likely to face in the quarter-finals, if they finish top or second in the group and thereby managing their last few games to suit whichever team they would prefer in the knockout stages, rather than racing to finish top of the group.
The Brazilians notably beat Al Ahly home and away in the group phase last season but the Red Devils ultimately reached the final from finishing second behind them in the section.
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