CAF Champions League: More woes for Nigerian football after Remo Stars suffer heavy loss to Mamelodi Sundowns
Masandawana smash five past Remo Stars in Abeokuta
Remo Stars are staring elimination from the 2025-26 CAF Champions League in the face after suffering a crushing 5-1 defeat at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns in the first leg of their second qualifying round tie at the M.K.O Abiola International Stadium on Sunday evening.
The PSL powerhouse asserted their dominance from the off and took the lead just 12 minutes into the match from a stunning curling effort by Tashreeq Matthews, and doubled their lead three minutes before the interval through Peter Shalulile.
The second half began in the same vein with Masandawana dictating the tempo, and the Brazilians put the game to bed with a sweeping move that saw Miguel Reisinho get on the end of a pinpoint cross by Khuliso Mudau, before Arthur Sales added a fourth of the evening.
The Nigerian Professional Football League champs created a few chances of their own, rattling the crossbar in the second half, while Samson Olasupo managed to pull one back with a composed finish past Ronwen Williams.
Unfortunately, any lingering hopes of the Sky Blue Stars mustering a comeback late on were quickly brought to an end when Katlego Ntsabeleng came off the bench to net Sundowns’ fifth and secure a four-goal advantage heading into the second leg at Loftus Versfeld this week.
Remo Stars still carrying hopes of a comeback at Loftus
While our expert’s football predictions suggest that Sundowns are expected to progress to the main draw of this season’s CAF Champions League, Remo Stars’ assistant coach, Tiago Conde, has refused to rule out the possibility of a comeback. In a media interview, he said:
“We are going to understand what went wrong, both individually and collectively, correct those mistakes, and draw a plan for the next game. The difference of four goals is difficult, we know, but it’s not impossible.”
However, the Portuguese tactician also explained that regardless of the outcome in the second leg, his side deserves credit for their endeavour, pointing out that the South African heavyweights have much greater experience and resources than they do.
The second leg, second qualifying round clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Remo Stars will be played this Sunday, October 26, at Loftus Versfeld in South Africa, and you can keep up to the minute with all the action via our CAF Champions League livescore tool.
