Wiliete SC coach Bianchi warns Sundowns ahead of Champions League clash

Wiliete SC coach Beto Bianchi says his side will not be intimidated by reigning African champions Mamelodi Sundowns when the two teams meet in the CAF Champions League.

The Angolan club booked their place in the second preliminary round after completing a 5-0 aggregate victory over Seychelles side Foresters FC on Thursday.

Wiliete won the second leg 1-0 to secure their progress and set up a meeting with Sundowns, with the first leg scheduled for the weekend of 16-18 October.

Bianchi insists his team will approach the tie with confidence as they aim to reach the Champions League group stage.

“If we want to get into the group stage, we have to eliminate Sundowns,” Bianchi told Wiliete SC’s media after the victory over Foresters.

“From the moment we study the opponent, we’ll prepare well for this game, but we’re not going to feel inferior to them.”

The coach believes Wiliete have players capable of competing with the South African champions and says they will give themselves every chance of causing an upset.

“I think Wiliete have players of the same level as them. It’s a club that has been growing, and we’re going to give it everything,” he said.

“We may succeed or we may not, but we’re not going to have that attitude of not trying.

“We’re obviously going to try, and it would be a very big achievement to get into the group stage. To do that, we have to eliminate Sundowns.”

Bianchi also highlighted Sundowns’ record in the competition and suggested Wiliete could look to exploit their struggles in overturning first-leg deficits when playing the return match at home.

“You gave me their statistics, didn’t you? And in terms of not being able to come back and turn the scoreline around when playing the second leg at home,” he said.

“We’ll take advantage of that and try to make things easier in the first game for the second leg.”

Wiliete will therefore face one of the continent’s strongest sides as they seek to progress to the Champions League group stage.