Jamil Benouahi: Mamelodi Sundowns are Champions League favourites

Benouahi twice came up against The Brazilians in the group stage, and was in charge when the Moroccan outfit held Sundowns to a 1-1 draw at Loftus last month.

But Benouahi has since stepped down to explore a new challenge, and while he waits for his next job, the coach tipped Downs to go all the way as he unpacked the last-eight draw.

"I still believe, if you take the competition right now, I'm sure and I believe wholeheartedly that Sundowns have the best team today – well balanced, very confident, they're playing very well and scoring lots of goals, and they have better balance than before, for sure," said Benouahi.

"The only thing, when you talk about Esperance de Tunis and Al Ahly Egypt, it's not about football only – it's all their behaviours, their tricks and things, it's not only about football. If it's only about football, for sure, for me the best team is Sundowns."

Sundowns will face Esperance de Tunis over two legs, while Orlando Pirates have been drawn against MC Algers, and Benouahi also weighed in on The Buccaneers’ trip to Algeria. 

"Pirates, for sure, of course, because this team is not that easy, but the thing is that all the teams have the same profile, they're mostly new to the competition," he added.

"MC Alger, it's going to be a tough game in Algeria at the 5 July Stadium, but for sure the rest are good, and even in the league this season, as you can see, Pirates is very close to Sundowns.

"So, for sure, I can go with Pirates vs Sundowns [final], but Sundowns has this – it's very tough."

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