Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena has confirmed that his side have lost three attacking players to injuries.
The South African champions will face Sudanese side Al-Merrikh in the CAF Champions League on Saturday, with the match set to be played in Cairo because the home side didn’t have their venues in Sudan accepted by CAF.
Mokwena, though, had some bad news, stating his side will miss Gaston Sirino, Pavol Safranko and Gift Motupa.
“I think we’re a little bit unfortunate, particularly with regards to injuries but that’s the name of the game,” he told reporters.
“We did not only lose Gaston, we also lost Pavol Safranko to an injury in our previous match. We lost Gift Motupa just prior to the game against Baroka.
“So offensively we’re without some very, very good players and some important players, not just Gaston.”
Mokwena also explained that while Sirino is a loss to the team, their squad should be strong enough to get the desired results without him.
“The unfortunate situation with Gaston is in a moment when he was training very and he showed a lot of appetite and desire to assist the team.
“As he was building his confidence and integrated himself back into the team, the timing was a big unfortunate. But that’s the name of the game, and as I said earlier and what is does then do it gives an opportunity to players that are within the team to be able to fill the void that Gaston leaves you without.
“We are aware that he’s a very good player, an important player with a profile that you guys [Egyptian media] are very fond of.
“But the reality is that Mamelodi Sundowns has got a very good squad with very good players and again the opportunity is presented to others to stake a claim and also make strong contribution to the objectives we set for ourselves.”
Downs will face El-Merrikh in Egypt at 15:00 on Saturday.
