Luanda – Petro de Luanda coach Alexandre Santos described the qualifying for the semifinals of the League of the African Champions Clubs in football as unique in the Angolan teams participating in the continental competition.
The coach stressed the qualification 21 years since the team’s last participation in this phase of the competition, at the time, the qualifying used to be direct, without disputing the quarter-finals.
In statements published on the website of the club, after a 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundows, from South Africa, Alexandre Santos spoke of the structure of the team, whose line of play goes beyond the defensive strategy.
To him, the key moment of the game was the Sundowns goal, a period in which the Angolan team transcended and attacked more, adding that his team would not easily accept a defensive strategy.
“Of course we had to defend a lot more than we did in other games. But that stems from the quality of Sundowns. That’s why we had to endure sacrifice, but never holding back from attacking and scoring the goal”, he said.
On the difficulties, he said that the Sundowns team play a lot between the lines, in the interior game and are very fast in the back, a fact that forced Petro to form a much stronger block.
The opponent scored first in the 49th minute, by Bryan Onyango. Petro drew for Tiago Azulão at 65 from the penalty spot.´
Petro de Luanda qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League because in aggregate they scored more goals than the South Africans (3-2).
Source: Angola Press News Agency
