‘Mr Dependable’ Lebusa ready to put his body on the line for Sundowns in Champions League final

Mosa Lebusa has carved himself a reputation as “Mr Dependable” for Mamelodi Sundowns, and coach Miguel Cardoso is going to rely on him during the Champions League final against Pyramids FC at Loftus. 

The Brazilians take on the dangerous Egyptian side in the sold-out first leg on Saturday looking to use home comforts to get a favourable result to take to Cairo next weekend for the second leg.

He usually does not get extended runs in the starting line-up but always shows up with commendable performances whenever coaches turn to him and it was the same in the semifinals against Al Ahly. 

With Lucas Suàrez under pressure after a string of questionable performances against Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup and Esperance during the Champions League semifinals, Cardoso turned to Lebusa and he duly delivered. 

With Grant Kekana at central defence, they formed a strong partnership as Sundowns earned 0-0 and 1-1 draws in Pretoria and Cairo respectively to progress to the final on the away goals rule. 

Since the back-to-back draws with Al Ahly, Lebusa has gone on to feature in four league wins against Cape Town City, Chippa United (twice) and Magesi FC. 

He was not part of the team that won against Richards Bay and Stellenbosch as Sundowns closed in on their record-extending eighth successive league title, but he is expected to play a big part against Pyramids FC. 

As Sundowns prepare for the anticipated clash, Lebusa said it would take a gallant team effort to get the better of the Egyptians.

“Everyone is important in the team, when I was not playing my job was to support the guys who were getting game time,” he said. 

“I just had to make sure when my time comes, I grab it with both hands. The good thing is that the coaching staff believed in me. They always told me I am important to the team and it showed when they put me in the semifinal. 

“Even the players spoke to me before the semifinal and they made it clear that they needed me and I must bring my A-game. That’s been the situation since I joined Sundowns. 

“One moment you are not playing, the next moment you are given a chance and you have to make sure you make full use of it.” 

Pyramids FC arrived in Pretoria with dangerous attacker Fiston Mayele, who has been terrorising defenders and he is the competition’s leading goal scorer with eight strikes from 11 matches. 

“Fiston Mayele is a very good player, but we don’t focus on individuals but on the team. As defenders, we try to make sure we keep opposition strikers far away from our penalty box to minimise their chances. 

“Around the box he is very deadly and that is one thing that we are looking at.” 

Lebusa also spoke about the importance of winning and not conceding at home. 

“Any result where we don’t concede will be good for us. We don’t want to concede at home and we know we always have a goal in us when playing away from home. 

“We will try to keep their attackers as far away as possible from our goals. If we get goals it will be a bonus to take that side, where we will have a chance to win the game. 

“It is going to be a tough match, we have been working hard this season to be where we are and we are ready for the first leg of the final. We got a chance to watch their games but the main focus is on ourselves. 

“It is not by chance that they got to where they are, but we have an experienced technical team that has been analysing them to feed us information. 

“Also for us as players, we have been doing our part in analysing them to see where we can capitalise on them. It will ease the pressure if we seal it at home but Caf games are different from any other competition. 

“Come Saturday, we have a good chance of sealing it with our supporters. Over the past two seasons, we couldn’t pass the semis, but we are here, we don’t want to put ourselves under pressure. 

“We know we are close, we know it is on us as players to make sure that we bring the trophy home.” 

Cardoso will be in his second successive final. Lebusa said they have a coach who knows a thing or two about high-stakes matches. 

“When we played against Al Ahly in the semis, he came up with tactics that worked for us and having him here with us is really good. It really helped us in the last round because he was there last season with Esperance when they lost to Al Ahly and hopefully he is the guy to lead us to the promised land.”