Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso was not entirely happy after side defeated Esperance 1-0 on Tuesday afternoon.
A second-half goal from Peter Shalulile was enough to hand the Brazilians a first-leg win at Loftus Versfeld.
Read: Sundowns Sink Tunisian Giants First Leg
However, Cardoso was not too pleased with how his side performed in the first half particularly.
"I think the first half we were not very clever on the way we had to play, because the things that we knew we had to put on the pitch, we didn't," Cardoso told SABC Sport after the game.
"So we ran away from the plan that we had defined that's important to do. When you do it, it's obvious you'll not play the game you want to play.
"Anyway, we controlled the first half, then I think in the second one we did in the first 20 minutes what we needed to do and out of that we got something, the goal, and was at moment that I felt we played what we wanted to play.
"Then again we went on not the best emotions and we could have continued with the same style that we wanted to have in order to go for the second goal.
"But anyway, we also need to understand the game what game we were playing and what team we were playing. The tie is in a half (halftime), we have hard work ahead of us, but it's better go with a 1-0 rather than a 1-1 or a 0-0. So I'm not really excited but conscious about what have ahead and about what we got."
When asked about the second leg, he added, "For sure a different match, the closed everything they could. Try to get a result of 0-0 or to score from a counter-attack. Of course I'm happy that we scored because it's not easy enter such a defence but we could have been clever, but we got the result. Let's prepare for the rest."
