Sundowns and Pirates lock horns in crunch Betway Premiership clash at Loftus

Besides the obvious and important three Betway Premiership points at stake, there is also a small matter of bragging rights for Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates players.

As the two teams prepared for their hugely anticipated clash at a sold-out Loftus on Saturday (3.30pm), Sundowns utility player Aubrey Modiba said those who lose would not hear the end of it when they meet at Bafana Bafana camp.

Bafana squad is made up mainly of Sundowns and Pirates players and Modiba said there is always friendly banter when the national team meets.

It is not going to be different when they meet for the international friendly against Zambia next month that is part of their preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco later in the year.

“Over the past few seasons Orlando Pirates have been pushing us in the league, especially towards the end,” said Modiba who will be one of the key players for coach Miguel Cardoso.

“It gives us extra motivation to play against them and obviously there is banter between the players at the national team.

“We have almost the same number of players at the national team, so we always talk about these big games. We don’t want to lose to them because banter is going to be on another level.”

Modiba admitted it is not going to be easy against Pirates who are on a five-match winning streak in the league since losing to Sekhukhune United and Marumo Gallants at the beginning of the season.

“They have been doing well in the league, pushing us to the limit and getting three points in this match is important for the league title race.”

Sundowns will be without influential central midfielder Teboho Mokoena but Modiba said they have enough quality like Bahusi Aubaas on the bench.

Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi said their focus is on their preparations with the knowledge that victory can take them to the top of the log.

“It is another match that has the value of three points. We just have to look at our own performance. We must apply ourselves correctly with the motivation for the game.

“If we do that and perform to the best of our ability, it doesn’t matter what happens to the opponents. It is more about us and our performance on the day.”

While suspended Mokoena is a certainly going to miss the match, Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou may bring back attacker Relebohile Mofokeng.

Mofokeng, who is a big game player, has not been in the Pirates squad in all competitions over the past few weeks and his situation has not been clarified.

TimesLIVE