Head coach of Espérance Sportive de Tunis, Maher Kanzari has emphasised the importance of putting last season’s TotalEnergies CAF Champions League semi-finals victory over Mamelodi Sundowns behind them.
The Tunisian giants edged Sundowns on aggregate after holding them to a goalless draw in Tunis, before stunning them to a 1-0 victory in a two-legged encounter that saw them advance to the finals.
Kanzari, who will be on the Espérance dug out for the very first time having being recently appointed by the club was speaking ahead of his side’s final preparation for the crunch encounter against a determined Sundowns side that is yearning for a second continental title that has eluded them since their 2016 success.
“Every game and every season is different so we cannot focus on the past. We have to focus on the present moment. Yes, we beat them last season in the knockout but that is now in the past” cautioned the coach.
Kanzari, who is making a return to the club following his 2013 tenure, said the focus should be on the current players and how they can write their own history.
“The focus is on the now and the current players. We have to focus on the current situation and focus on the current Sundowns. We don’t dwell on the past because football is about the now so we will write our on history in tomorrow’s match”, said a calm Kanzari.
Espérance, who lifted the title four times go into the two-legged encounter with a slight advantage of having to face the South Africans away first before the return leg exactly a week later in Tunis.
They are also against a side coached by their former coach, Miguel Cardoso who joined Sundowns from the Tunisian giants last year after guiding them to a TotalEnergies CAF Champions League silver-medal.
Kick-off at Loftus Stadium will be at 15h00 Local Time (13h00 GMT).
