View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soccer Laduma (@soccer_laduma)

Pitso Mosimane won't donate CAF Champions League star to Kaizer Chiefs - Al Ahly coach

Ahly and Mosimane are aiming to retain their title against a Kaizer Chiefs side who defied all odds and destroyed the script of the 2020/21 season by reaching the final of Africa's elite club competition.

But the two-time winner of the competition has warned the Soweto giants that they won't be offered any favours in the pursuit of their first star – in a season which marked their first time past the preliminary round.

"There's a little bit of a confliction, I'm South African and I'm playing against my fellow team – my home team, the team I supported growing up – but at this point in time it's about me, my family and my team, they come first," 'Jingles' told The SAFJA.

"It was the same when I met Mamelodi Sundowns, and the same when I was a coach for Mamelodi Sundowns and playing against SuperSport United, who gave me the break to become a coach.

"When it comes to that, do I want to give a medal to Baxter or keep it? I think you know the answer to that. But it would also be nice for a South African team to have a star to be honest, if I look from the other side.

"It will be a boost for our country to have three big teams with a star. Why not? But we are not in the welfare of charitable organisations of handing out stars here, you must earn it."

8 - Manuel Jose (Portugal) - CAF Champions League
8 - Manuel Jose (Portugal) - CAF Champions League x4, CAF Super Cup x4
6 - Faouzi Benzarti (Tunisia) - CAF Champions Leag
6 - Faouzi Benzarti (Tunisia) - CAF Champions League, CAF Confederations Cup x2, CAF Super Cup x2, CAF Cup
4 - Pitso Mosimane (South Africa) - CAF Champions
4 - Pitso Mosimane (South Africa) - CAF Champions League x2, CAF Super Cup x2
4 - Oscar Fullone (Argentina) - CAF Champions Leag
4 - Oscar Fullone (Argentina) - CAF Champions League x2, CAF Super Cup, CAF Cup Winners Cup
4 - Mahmoud El-Gohary (Egypt) - CAF Champions Leag
4 - Mahmoud El-Gohary (Egypt) - CAF Champions League x2, CAF Super Cup, CAF Cup Winner's Cup
3 - Patrice Carteron (France) - CAF Champions Leag
3 - Patrice Carteron (France) - CAF Champions League, CAF Super Cup x2
Scroll right to see the most successful managers i
Scroll right to see the most successful managers in CAF inter-club competition history >>>

Amidst all the turmoil that effectively started when Chiefs lost the league title on the final day of the season – ironically to Mosimane during his time with The Brazilians – Chiefs soldiered towards a historic journey.

Even after the sacking of Gavin Hunt, interim coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard managed to steer Amakhosi past Wydad AC in the semi-finals, while new head coach Stuart Baxter awaited his work permit.

And Mosimane concedes it's a remarkable story that he's never witnessed before in his coaching career.

"Al Ahly wants their own La Decima, they call Aleushria and Kaizer Chiefs want to win their first star, I would congratulate them for the journey that they've had - what a season they've had," he said.

"A team that never signed anyone, in fact, a team that I won the league against in the season before last [in 2019/20, with Sundowns] in the last 18 minutes. It's unbelievable.

"The very same team was lying 12th on the log this year, losing to Black Leopards – I saw that match and I think Chippa also, if I'm not mistaken. And then they come and go to the [Champions League] final and come back with integrity to finish in the top-eight in the end, so what a story!

"It's an amazing story, to be honest, I'd like to know what happened in that story. Because it's very awkward, I've never seen anything like this.

"One day you're so good and in six months' time you're different, and you have the same players. Probably the changing of the technical team, I'm not sure, and maybe the issue of not signing players affected them in the league."

The Club of the Century and Amakhosi meet for the once-off final at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca, Morocco on 17 July.

Comments