Miguel Cardoso may have earned a yellow card for his over-zealous protesting on the sidelines, but the Portuguese coach would have left the imposing Stade Olympique de Radès in Tunis with a smile after his gallant 10-man Mamelodi Sundowns revived their dream of returning to the CAF Champions League final with a 1-0 victory over Esperance.
All eyes were on Cardoso in the build-up to this first-leg semi-final at his former stomping grounds – the 53-year-old had won the league title and reached the Champions League final, including beating Sundowns in the semi-finals, during a previous stint with the North African giants.
But now he was in the yellow and blue corner and guided the perennial South African champions to a first-ever win in Tunis.
Cardoso had called on CAF to remove the away goal rule in its interclub competitions in the build-up to the first-leg semi-final. Now, it’s that very away goal from Colombian striker Brayan Léon for Sundowns that is worth its worth in gold ahead of the second leg at Loftus Versveld on Saturday.
Sometimes, everything turns on a single moment, and it came from a long-ranging pass from the ever-impressive Jayden Adams that found Thapelo Morena unmarked on the right touchline just after halftime.
Morena was dashing towards the penalty area and did not hesitate to hit a cross first time into the box where Léon Muñiz snuck between two Esperance defenders to head home past Ben Said.
It had come almost against the run of play with Esperance having held the advantage in the first half. French striker Florian Danho had two chances to open the scoring for the home team, but was denied by the frame of the goal and a superb reflex save from Sundowns and Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams.
Esperance did not lie down after conceding the goal and went in search of the equaliser and believed they had managed to level up the tie when substitute Jack Diarra headed home from close range.
But it was the build-up that incensed Cardoso with the Sundowns mentor remonstrating on the sidelines due to Williams being taken out in the air. Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal, who was excellent throughout despite the hostile atmosphere created by the home fans, handed Cardoso a yellow card for his actions.
But Ghorbal went to check the monitor and correctly overturned the ‘goal’ after VAR showed that Williams was elbowed in the face.
Although Sundowns breathed a sigh of relief that their lead was still intact, they were forced to absorb more pressure when central defender Grant Kekana was issued a straight red for a foul with six minutes remaining of regular time.
Williams had earlier received lengthy treatment after the head knock, which saw 10 minutes of extra time added, but Cardoso’s charges held firm and showed great resilience to claim a historic victory, which has set it all up for an epic second leg in the nation’s capital this coming Saturday.
