Rulani Mokwena gives Lucas Ribeiro injury update

Ribeiro was substituted after just 30 minutes in the DStv Premiership goalless draw away to Golden Arrows on Wednesday night and there were fears his season could be over with the Nedbank Cup final looming.

Mokwena blamed the high number of matches, using assistant referee Zakhele Siwela as an example of the congested schedule.

"I'm not sure, let me put this into context a little bit and last game people asked me about the volume of games and you know who pulled the hamstring in the last game, Sundowns' last game? It was Zakhele Siwela and then count how many games Zakhele Siwela has actually done," Mokwena said.

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Last weekend when Downs beat Stellenbosch FC to progress to the cup final, Siwela had to be replaced by the fourth official after getting hurt.

Mokwena argues that if an assistant referee can suffer a setback, what more about players.

"Domestic, plus international, Champions League, international friendlies, AFCON qualifiers, World Cup qualifiers and if an assistant referee gets injured because of the volume of games, what more about the players, guys? So, that's exactly what I'm saying. I mean Lucas Ribeiro's injury is just as a consequence of the number of games that we have to play but I don't think it's that serious," the coach explained.

On being held to a stalemate by a former Sundowns employee in coach Steve Komphela with Arrows benefiting from defender Musa Lebusa’s red card, Mokwena said he was in fact impressed by how his side coped.

"Well, I think maybe his motivation to beat us should have been higher especially when there's a numerical advantage but I can't speak for Steve. We tried to win the game, we did everything we can to win the game and I'm very proud of the players and their effort and maybe that's a question for him."