An Esperance star has made a serious claim about their clash against Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League on Saturday night.
The Tunisian giants welcome Sundowns to the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi this evening for the first leg of their semi-final tie.
The two sides will be meeting for the first time since 2017 group stage phase, where Esperance came out secured a draw at home and a win in Pretoria.
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Tunis defender Defender Yassine Meriah, however, is hoping to end the tie after the first leg before they had back to Pretoria.
"Esperance will play the match realistically, and will try to decide it from the first leg, in order to move to South Africa with high morale," he said on Radio Mosaique, per Kooora.
"Esperance players are not thinking about the 2025 Club World Cup, and the focus is only on facing Sundowns and running for the CAF Champions League final."
Tunis head coach Miguel Cardoso feels the team has what it takes to get the better of the South African champions.
“We will correct our mistakes [from Monastir] as part of our preparation for this match,” Cardoso said, as per AfricanFootball.
“The technical staff is already hard at work and we will be ready on D-Day.
“I’m confident that we have the resources to achieve great things. We need to stay focussed, stay together and give our best in every game.
“If we do that we will be difficult to stop.”
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