Mamelodi Sundowns may not enter their important CAF Champions League quarter-final first leg in top form, but their opponents CR Belouizdad have also stuttered to get results off late.
Downs face Belouizdad in Algeria on Saturday, a week after suffering their first defeat under head coach Rulani Mokwena after Stellenbosch FC knocked them out of the Nedbank Cup.
Out of their last five games, Sundowns have only won one – a 2-1 home victory over Coton Sport in the CAF Champions League, while drawing three and losing one.
Coincidently, Belouizdad enter Saturday’s quarter-final first leg with exactly the same results from their last five games – winning one, drawing three and losing one.
The Algerian Ligue 1 leaders were unbeaten in the league for 19 games but have suffered their first defeat on Monday – a surprise 3-1 loss to ninth-placed MC Oran.
However, despite the loss, which came after two draws in the league, Belouizdad still lead the table comfortably with five points and a game in hand ahead of second-placed CS Constantine.
Out of their previous 19 league fixtures they had won 13 and drawn six, while they qualified for the knockout stages of the CAF Champions League as runners-up from Group B behind Esperance Tunis.
They lost to Tunis 1-0 at home but held them to a goalless draw in the away fixture. When Sundowns and Belouizdad met in the 2021 CAFCL group stages, Masandawana thrashed the Algerian side 5-1 away from home before losing 2-0 at Loftus Versfeld – on match day six when they had already qualified for the quarters.
