Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has suggested their CAF Champions League Achilles' heel came back to bite them when it mattered the most in the semi-finals against Wydad Casablanca recently.
The Brazilians were eliminated despite not losing a game in the entire tournament. This was after the 2-2 draw on aggregate against the Moroccan giants in the second-leg saw them bow out on the away goals' rule.
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Sundowns were eliminated in the quarterfinals in the last three years, which is the first round of the knockout stages.
Mokwena suggested that not making the semi-finals in such a long time counted against them after they were eliminated by defending champions, Wydad this time.
He added that his team has to learn that in the semi-finals, small mistakes get punished, after they were pegged back twice in the crucial encounter.
"What is clear and evident is the fact that we haven't been in the semi-finals for the last three years of a very important and a difficult competition," Mokwena said in the press conference after the match.
"And so the mistakes are evident, even though they are marginal. But this game that we play in this competition, in particular, does not allow for mistakes because you get punished.
"At the moment I'm too emotional to give a summation, however, what I can say is that I'm extremely proud of the players, I'm proud of the effort, I'm proud that in a very difficult competition we finished unbeaten," he said.
"Against some strong opponents, but of course, there's an element of disappointment which probably overrides my thought process at the moment and probably it's the only time that will reveal whether we're making the necessary progress to be able to be good enough and maybe reach a level of perfection to be able to fiercely compete for this competition. But, I trust the process, I trust this group," he added.
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