Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi says the comments he made comparing La Passe and Orlando Pirates were misleading in the media as he clarified his statement.
In the build-up to the second leg, the Sundowns coach stated they had similar set-ups in terms of their formation and that it would be good preparation for the second leg MTN8 semi-final with the score evenly poised at 0-0 from the first leg at Orlando Stadium.
But with Masandawana smashing the Seychelles champions 15-1 on aggregate several articles surfaced claiming he stated they are similar squads creating a social media storm last week.
“I think it was blown out of proportion by you guys [the media], you come to the press conferences with ulterior motives, all I was saying there was talking about the shape,” he said ahead of the second leg at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
“All I was saying there was; I was talking about the shape. La Passe has three centre-backs, they have two wing-backs and two central midfielders, one nine and two tens, just like Pirates has been playing. I was not saying Pirates is at the level of La Passe.
“In as much as the opposition wasn’t that strong, structurally, it will help us to practice for a match we’re going to play for, to play against Pirates because structurally they are almost the same. That was not comparing the quality of the two teams – that’s what I was saying.”
