Downs out to get first AFL title, not revenge, says Modiba

Mamelodi Sundowns defender Aubrey Modiba insists they won’t have revenge in mind when they host Wydad Casablanca in the African Football League (AFL) final return leg at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday. They will be focused on lifting the trophy.

Wydad, who are leading 2-1 from the first leg in Morocco, eliminated Sundowns in the Caf Champions League semifinal on away goals last season after drawing 2-2 at the same venue.

Modiba said there were lessons they took from that match and would not repeat the same mistakes on Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s all about revenge. We have learnt from our last game last season in the Champions League what we did wrong, so we don’t want to do the same thing we did when we played them,” he said on Wednesday.

“It is about making sure we don’t make the same mistakes of last season, playing against them at home. We know very well that we can score, we can defend and now we have experience too. We know what to expect in the game, especially playing at home.”

With Sundowns having scored an away goal in the first leg, it means they only need to win 1-0 to win the final.

Modiba, 28, said the plan is to score first and make sure they don’t concede.

“We are expecting a difficult game. They are a good team. And obviously, they are leading and we have to try to score and not concede like we did last season in the Champions League,” he said. “We know we have an away goal, so we just have to score and make sure we don’t concede and win the game.

“I think the positives we took is we managed to apply pressure in the second half, we controlled the game and we showed we wanted to equalise. That’s what we can take going into the second leg, as we proved that we can play. They are a quality side and have good players and we know each other very well. They are a team that have been giving us problems, especially in continental football. I think we just have to be 100% focused on the day.”