Mamelodi Sundowns confirm extended Egypt stay for double Champions League fixtures

Mamelodi Sundowns are expected to depart for Egypt this week for two of their Group B CAF Champions League fixtures.

On Saturday, the Brazilians clash against Al Merrikh (15:00 SA time) before facing Al Ahly on Friday, 25 February (time TBC), with both matches taking place in Cairo.

After Sundowns' 1-1 DStv Premiership draw on Monday, co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi confirmed the club's itinerary for the week ahead.

"We are taking a substantial amount of players considering that we are playing two matches," Mngqithi said.

"Normally we will take 25 players for one match but this time around we will take a little bit more.

"We know there are Covid issues and some players may not be ready to play the first match. Maybe, they will be ready for the second match.

"We have to take as much as we can."

Mngqithi added: "It will be better to stay (in Egypt) than to travel in and out. We don't have direct flights because Egypt Air have very few direct flights. 

"A stay in Egypt is the best option. We looked at it with the coaches and everyone else involved and we all feel that we may have a lot of travel fatigue if we were to travel in and out.

"We will be finding ourselves a very good camping place so that we will be able to have a good training programme in preparation for the second match."

Sundowns started the group stage of the tournament with a tough 1-0 victory against Al-Hilal last week.