Mamelodi Sundowns survived a scare from Stade Malien to win their CAF Champions League quarterfinal return leg match 3-2 on aggregate at Stade du 26 Mars, in Bamako, Mali, on Sunday, to advance to the semifinals.
Sundowns came into this match in a good position to qualify for the last four after thumping Malien 3-0 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria in the first leg.
Masandawana, who lost 2-0 on Sunday and had Aubrey Modiba sent off late on, will now face Esperance in the semifinals on April 10 with the return leg seven days later.
The Tunisian side will host the first leg.
The home side had a daunting task as they needed to score four times without a response to overturn the first-leg result.
They got off to a flyer when they opened the scoring in the first minute of the match through Taddeus Nkeng, who nodded home a cross from Mamadou Traore to reduce the lead to 3-1.
Sundowns took long to settle in the game, with the home side dominating.
They had a second goal disallowed earlier in the first half after Nkeng calmly slotted past Ronwen Williams, but VAR came to their rescue to rule the goal out for offside.
The heat was seemingly affecting Sundowns as they struggled to combine and could not find their rhythm in the opening half.
The hosts doubled their lead five minutes before the interval through Haman Mandjan from a rebound after Sundowns’ defence failed to clear Ousmane Coulibaly’s effort, which hit the woodwork, to go into the interval with a 2-0 cushion.
Sundowns came back with more energy in the second half as they looked for the away goal and started to ask some questions of the hosts’ defence.
They knew an away goal would give them a huge advantage, needing the home side to score three goals to win 5-4 on aggregate.
They started to put pressure on the hosts as they searched for that away goal.
They kept the position well and played aggressively in the second half.
It seems the heat also affected the hosts as they dropped the tempo of the match in the second half and did not make those runs they made in the first half behind Sundowns’ defence.
Sundowns were reduced to 10 men when Modiba was shown a straight red card 12 minutes from time for a dangerous tackle on Moussa Diallo but managed to hold on.
• Relebohile Mofokeng scored his first senior hat-trick, inspiring Orlando Pirates to a 6-0 drubbing of 10-man TS Galaxy at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.
Tshepang Moremi and Kamohelo Sebelebele were also on target for Bucs, while Mlungisi Mbunjana netted an own goal.
The victory saw Pirates return top of the table, dethroning Mamelodi Sundowns.
Galaxy have now lost six of their last seven league games with a draw.
Four minutes into the game, Galaxy dealt a huge blow when Oupa Motaung, who was the last man, was red-carded for hacking down speeding Mofokeng just outside the box, leaving referee Jelly Chavani with no choice but to give him his marching orders.
Mofokeng stepped up to convert the resultant set-piece brilliantly.
The game was played at a fast pace, resulting in rushed decisions from both sides at times, especially in the first half, but that did not prevent Pirates from scoring three goals before the break.
Galaxy were never in the game, and Mbunjana’s own goal in the 44th minute summed up their dire day.
Mbunjana tried to make a back pass to Tape, not realising he had fallen.
Moremi beat Galaxy goalkeeper Ira Tape with a low-driven effort from a short corner three minutes after Mbunjana’s own goal.
Mofokeng completed his brace after gliding through Galaxy’s defensive line, benefiting from an Appollis pass in the 53rd minute.
Kamogelo Sebelebele scored Bucs’ fifth goal after he was brilliantly picked by Nemtajela’s pinpoint pass a few minutes after the hour-mark.
Mofokeng netted his third in the 69th minute, a nicely curled effort from outside the box. — Additional reporting by Sihle Ndebele
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