By Mark Ogagan
A spectacle is expected when newly-crowned South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns host Egyptian powerhouse Pyramids FC in the first leg final of the 2025 CAF Champions League at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria on Saturday. Kick off is 16h00 local time.
Sundowns will be looking to dominate the continent once again after previously winning this cup in 2016, and a healthy win at home to one of Africa’s fast rising sides could be a veritable platform to achieving that objective.
A good win will propel the Brazilians ahead of the return leg slated for June 30 Stadium in Cairo, on June 1st.
Having already conquered the South African domestic scene with an unprecedented eighth consecutive league title, Sundowns have shifted all focus to bringing home the biggest prize in African club football.
Both teams have faced each other twice in the past, with Sundowns winning once and the other ending in a draw. The first meeting was in 2023, during the group stages of the competition.
In the fixture at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, no side was able to break the deadlock as the match ended in a 0-0 draw. They met again in the return leg at 30 June Air Defence Stadium in Cairo where Sundowns emerged winners after a 1-0 win.
Two key players on focus in this encounter are Sundowns’ Brazilian striker, Lucas Ribeiro and the Congolese Fiston Mayele of Pyramids.
Ribeiro, 26, has scored 16 goals in the South African Premiership this season, making him odds-on favourite to win the Golden Boot award.
Ribeiro moved to Sundowns from Belgian club Beveren in 2023 and is hot favourite to be voted the 2024/2025 South African Footballer of the Year.
He has never represented Brazil, leading some football followers to push for him to be granted citizenship and included in the South African national squad.
South African international Iqraam Rayners also poses a major threat, having scored 21 goals in South African and continental competitions this term.
Sundowns know all about Mayele having watched him wreck dreams of an all-South African final in the premier African club competition, which offers a $4 million (3.5 million euros) first prize.
Pyramids, who reached the final after eliminating South Africa’s Orlando Pirates in the semis, will be thankful to the Congolese for scoring the decisive goal.
Mayele, 30, also scored the first equaliser, and his eight goals makes him the leading scorer in the Champions League this season.
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