Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane voices his frustration with Gastón Sirino

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has voiced his frustration with Gastón Sirino after the temperamental midfielder survived a possible red card in the club's Nedbank Cup clash against SuperSport United on Saturday.

Sirino, whose lack of discipline on the field is well documented, was lucky to escape with a yellow card in the 64th minute after a reckless and high tackle caught United defender Clayton Daniel on the shin.

Frustratingly for Mosimane, Sirino committed the tackle deep in the United half and Clayton posed no threat to Sundowns as he tried to clear the ball next to the corner flag.

“I spoke to Victor Gomes, who was next to me, and said we have to protect him, but when he clutters into Clayton like that we can’t protect him,” said Mosimane, who acknowledged that his star midfielder has a short fuse.

“My initial reaction was to take him out, that’s the best thing you can do because I need him for the league. You know that he has a fuse that he blows and sometimes he plays into the hands of the opponents.

“Also, there was a time where he was racing with the ball and Teboho Mokoena came from behind, and he kept on pulling him, but the referee never picked it up. I told him that they want to take you out and you must be very careful.

“I told him don’t play into their hands. They want him to blow the fuse and they knew that they have to deal with him because he is our attacker.”

United coach Kaitano Tembo did not want to comment much on the incident, but said: “I am not one person who wants to dwell much on the incident, but from where I was sitting I saw a two-footed tackle, but it’s up to the referee,” he said.

“They have to be brave and take decisions because there is no use in us coming here and talking about it.

“The referee must go back and watch the match again, and if he has a clear conscience that he did the right thing then it’s up to him. I want to talk about the game, that’s all I want to do.”

Sundowns won the game 1-0 to progress to the next stage of the competition.