Sundowns simply superb at home in Champions League

Mamelodi Sundowns prepare to host Egyptian side Pyramids FC on Sunday as they seek to avoid back-to-back group stages losses for the first time ever in the Champions League.

Looking at their home record in the elite African competition, that looks very likely as Sundowns have been one of the most difficult places to go and get a result in the last three decades of club competition on the continent – perhaps even the trickiest of them all.

The Brazilians have played 73 home matches since their first in a 4-1 victory over Lesotho side Arsenal in 1994.

Since then, they have lost only two games in front of their own fans, a truly remarkable feat and one that perhaps goes unnoticed among all their other record-breaking feats.

To feature routinely against the best the continent has to over and only lose twice in almost 30 years is sensational, and in both of those defeats they will be kicking themselves.

It wasn’t until 2017 that they suffered a first defeat, losing 2-1 to Tunisian giants Esperance at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.

It was the third of the group stage matches and after Taha Khenissi gave Esperance a sixth minute lead, Sibusiso Vilakazi equalised midway through the first half.

That was the way it stayed until the visitors were awarded an avoidable penalty in the final minute and Khenissi stepped up to give his side the win against the then defending champions, who were minutes away from a draw.

The second loss came in 2021 against Algerian outfit Belouizdad. Sundowns had already qualified in top spot in their pool and so fielded a weakened, much changed starting line-up in what was a dead rubber for them.

Belouizdad were savvy enough to take advantage of that and recorded a 2-0 victory that saw them also qualify for the quarterfinals in second place.

Apart from those two anomalies, Sundowns have held sway at home, winning 55 of their 73 matches to go with 16 draws. They have managed to score 120 goals more than their opponents (GF161 GA41) and have been completely dominant in Pretoria.

It shows the measure of the task facing teams coming to play them in South Africa, and for Pyramids to claim a win it would take a performance of near historic proportions.