Sundowns shift focus to continental duties as they travel to Algeria

Masandawana have already wrapped up a sixth consecutive league title a few weeks ago but, surprisingly, results since then have gone backwards.

The Tshwane club have failed to win in their last four outings, playing to three draws before being knocked out of the Nedbank Cup, going down 2-1 to Stellenbosch lat weekend.

Coach Rulani Mokwena has chopped and changed his line-up for the need to keep players fresh for the continental tournament.

Sundowns will be favourites in the tie, having hammered the Algerian club 5-1 in a Group B clash of the 2021 Champions League campaign.

When Belouizdad beat them 2-0 in Pretoria in the reverse encounter, Sundowns had long secured qualification for the knockout phase and thus much cannot be read into that result.