Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso knows he will still have a job even if his club is unable to progress past another super-competitive club in his old side Esperance de Tunis in the 2024-25 Caf Champions League quarterfinals.

He also knows that at the club of Confederation of Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe, whose son Tlhopie is president while the mining magnate serves the continent, success and failure is judged by the ability to challenge strongly in the Africa’s premier interclub competition.

Downs host Esperance at Loftus Versfeld in Tuesday’s first leg (3pm) with the second in Tunisia on April 8. Sundowns are the 2016 champions and perennial knockout stage competitors. They are a team known for beautiful football who, under Cardoso, seem to have a harder edge which should suit the Champions League.

Esperance were the 1-0 aggregate final losers against Al Ahly under Cardoso in 2023-24. Like any top North African club, they are tough as nails on the field. The club, coached by Maher Kanzani since Romanian Laurențiu Reghecampf's exit two weeks ago, has won the Champions League four times, including as recently as in 2019.

On Tuesday Cardoso was at pains to stress — as he seeks early glory in Pretoria after switching allegiances from a club close to his heart in Tunis — that in such a clash there will be a strong team that loses.

“The Champions League brings the best teams to compete against each other, and of course in the end there will be two teams playing in the final and just one winner,” the 52-year-old Portuguese said.

“I don’t feel that the teams that don’t win the Champions League are teams that have failed. Last year we didn’t win it when I was coaching Esperance, but I didn’t feel at all that I or the team failed.

“What I mean is that obviously we know we really want to bring something more for this club. And we know everything has been done [by the club] for us to succeed in this competition by going as far as possible. And that’s the mindset we have. We will fight until the 90th minute in the first and second match [of the quarterfinal] and then we’ll fight again and again with all our energy.

“But it’s important we look at sport in the way it should be looked at. Not all the teams can be successful and for sure out of this quarterfinal round there will be a good team that will be [eliminated]. Because Esperance are a good team with experience in the Champions League and so are Sundowns, with players who are willing to succeed.

“I feel every day these players have a lot of will to do well in the Champions League because they also want to leave a mark. We have a group of players who are not old but not young and they have the experience and they want to leave a mark besides the [2023] African Football League and trophies they have won in South Africa.

“We will try to be loyal to that desire and go as far as possible.”

Sundowns, quarterfinalists three times and semifinalists twice in the nine years since winning in 2016, know all too well how the finest margins — what Cardoso calls “the details” — can be the difference between a place in the final and knockout exit. Downs’ coach was quick to clarify that was what he meant when cautioning one of two strong sides in Esperance or Downs will be disappointed come April 8. The coach is also only in his fourth month of a new job, yet he knows, while the Betway Premiership has been wound up for seven seasons in a row, coaches are ultimately judged by continental progression at the Brazilians.

“We are completely aware of our desires and intentions and at the same time our capacities. But when my son comes home and he’s the second or third or fourth one in one exam at university I don’t feel he’s a loser. In general our society judges the second ones as losers and it’s not like that.

“That has nothing to do with what we are going to do or ask from ourselves in this competition. Of course we are going to try to write our names in the history of the club. Understanding what you have to contend with in life takes nothing from the intention to succeed.

“What is important to understand is in the knockout rounds [semifinal] when we beat Sundowns with Esperance [on the way to last year's final] the details were what didn’t make it for Sundowns. It’s such a thin line sometimes that it can go for one side or the other.”

Downs laboured at the start of the group stage, which was part of the reason Cardoso was brought to Chloorkop in December to replace Manqoba Mngqithi. Cardoso, soon after the group stage, admitted his team squeezed through and said he was pleased at the large time gap to the quarters, which would give Downs time to grow in strength under his philosophy in domestic matches. Their Premiership form has mostly borne that out.

On Tuesday he added that the Brazilians coming through in the latter stages of group B with some pressure results to progress in second place, a point above Raja Casablanca and one behind AS FAR, was another indicator they will be competitive in the knockouts.

“There are moments where teams need to focus on achieving results. My first match at Sundowns was at home against Raja [a 1-0 win at Loftus] after two days of training sessions. What you should expect in such a context is trying to achieve the result, connecting the minds for us to go and fight together in the proper way.

“Obviously since then the team grew and is now able to play in a different way. But that match against Raja was very good in many aspects. Sometimes we even use the footage from that game and certain aspects of the match when we speak about our good things.

“But it was not easy. We arrived here in a delicate situation. Playing Maniema [a 2-1 win after a 2-1 loss away against Raja] where the conditions were quite hectic, it was fantastic [to get the result].

“Playing AS FAR at home in the last match [a 1-1 draw] where you need a result was not easy. And you play a good game and suffer a late counterattack [83rd minute equaliser by Amine ZouhZouh], where a win could have given you first place, but a game we controlled. I think we did an interesting job in the group stage.

“Now it’s another task. There are moments [in knockout matches] where you just play for the result, moments where you need to hold the result, moments where you need to invest everything into changing the result. And managing the 180 minutes is very important.”