Williams and Lebusa reflect on CAF heartbreak

Mamelodi Sundowns stars have shared their reactions following last Sunday’s heartbreaking defeat to Pyramids FC in the CAF Champions League final. 

The Brazilians came agonisingly close to securing their second continental title but ultimately fell short, losing 3-2 on aggregate to the Egyptian side.

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Ronwen Williams reflected on the campaign, emphasising the lessons learned from the final. Sundowns drew 1-1 at home before suffering a 2-1 loss at the 30 June Stadium.

“We have fought, we have sacrificed, we have cried and bled for the Champions League. We know how important it is to the club, players and fans. It feels like we’ve let so many people down because expectations were so high for everyone to lift it this year,” Williams said to the club’s media. 

 “So you do have to keep going, believe and have faith in the club, technical team and players. That’s how life is and God loves us all. When it’s your time, it will be your time to win it. We need to clap and appreciate the work that Pyramids have done.

“There are so many lessons to be taken out of the defeat. We obviously didn’t have enough time to think and process it all. The home game was very important and we should always make sure that we don’t concede at home to have one foot in front going away in the second leg. The away goal is an important factor in the CAF Champions League.”

Meanwhile, Mosa Lebusa stressed the importance of learning from the experience. The composed defender spoke about the atmosphere in camp during what would have been a week of soul-searching at Chloorkop.

“It’s heartbreaking because season in and season out we come so close and this time we were very so close. We still couldn’t lift the trophy so it’s very painful and hard to take. I don’t have words for it, it’s just very painful,” he said. 

“The biggest lesson will be that we need to play a clean game at home to make sure that we keep our opponents as far away from the box as possible. We also need to take our chances because I feel like we had so many chances but we didn’t convert them. 

“To be honest, the champions league loss kind of overshadows everything. The first thing is to always win the league obviously. 

We have to learn from it to make sure that going into the next season we do better and go even a step further.”

Although the Tshwane giants secured a record-extending eighth consecutive Betway Premiership title, their campaign was marked by numerous ups and downs. 

Earlier in the season, they also suffered a surprise defeat to newcomers Magesi FC in the final of the Carling Knockout. However,  Williams admits that the biggest heartbreak was missing out on Africa’s most coveted club title.

“We learned a lot of valuable lessons that hopefully can help us grow as a team and become even stronger and better,” Williams added. 

“There have been so many highs at the club because we work so hard and sacrifice so much, but they have been lows as well. There have been quite a few low moments, getting knocked out of the MTN8 semi-finals because that wasn’t a good start to the season. 

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“Losing the final of the Carling Knockout where everyone expected us to win. We were the favourites and that still hurts. We pride ourselves at lifting cups and we haven’t done that in the last few years. We have fallen short quite a number of times and this is the big one and it’s the one that probably hurts the most and that’s not lifting the CAF Champions League.”