FC Nouadhibou head coach Aritz Lopez Garai believes that their CAF Champions League opposition Mamelodi Sundowns is currently the best team in Africa.
The Spanish mentor arrived at Nouadhibou in February after spells with LALIGA second-division sides CD Tenerife and Albacete.
Since his arrival he has broken some records for the club, leading the team to CAF Champions League group stages for the first time and leading the club to a 3-0 win away at home in the competition for the first time.
Garai led Nouadhibou to their 11th league title in May, before eliminating Libyan side Ali Ahli Tripoli and Real Bamako to book a place in the CAFCL group stages.
Despite not qualifying for the Arab Club Champions Cup after losing to Al Kuwait home and away, Garai believes his club is capable of fighting in the CAFCL.
Speaking to iDiski Times the Spaniard believes that Downs is currently the best club in Africa, and they are playing the most attractive football. He mentioned that they have a mountain to climb on Sunday.
“Mamelodi Sundowns at this moment – they are the best team in Africa – because they play very good football, they have very good players. They play attractive and offensive football. I like it, maybe now they are the best team in Africa,” Garai said.
“For us, it’s a first-time experience in the Champions League, we made history by qualifying for group stages and being the first team from Mauritania to do so.
“We need to learn; we need to work hard. We need to concentrate the whole game because the opponents’ level is very high for us. But we will see what happens in the game on Sunday.”
Their key players Bodda Mouhsine, Sidi Amar, Babacar Diop, Demini Selack, and Nouh El Abd were expected to arrive back from national team duty on Thursday evening.
It has been explained that they arrived early in South Africa because they wanted to get to used playing on grass as they normally play on synthetic pitches.
