Following their CAF Champions League exit at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns, CR Belouizdad boss Nabil Kouki has insisted that Masandawana are the best side on the continent.
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On Saturday, the Algerian giants came to Pretoria for their Champions League quarter-final clash with aspirations of overturning an emphatic 4-1 deficit against the DStv Premiership champions.
While it initially seemed the Ligue Professionnelle 1 table-toppers stood a chance of achieving their lofty ambitions when they opened the scoring through Sofiane Bouchar at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Rhulani Mokwena's men scored goals either side of half-time to put the tie beyond doubt and book their passage to the competition's final four.
After the match, Tunisian tactician Kouki was extremely complimentary of the South African giants, hailing them as the team above all others in the tournament.
"Mamelodi Sundowns, in my opinion, is the best team in Africa right now," the 53-year-old said during a post-match press conference, as translated from Arabic to English via an interpreter, that Soccer Laduma was in attendance for.
"The challenge with this team is that their football has everything. Football always has new things but now, if we talk about the football, it's money.
"All the coaches around the world can see that Mamelodi Sundowns are higher, and the other teams are not equal. It's also about the players, the quality, the money.
"Yes, obviously, the other teams can also get the players with that type of money, but Mamelodi Sundowns have the eye. They have the technique to get the players.
"The technique of the technical team of how to get the player and how the player can finish, and you can see them on the field, they are a very well coached team, and Mamelodi Sundowns are far from the other teams."
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Masandawana have now progressed to their first Champions League semi-final since the 2018/19 campaign, where they will meet the defending champions, and the team they met in their previous final-four clash, Wydad Casablanca.
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