Former coach Mokwena does not come back to haunt Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns came away from Algeria with a hard-fought point after they played out a 0-0 draw with MC Alger at the Ali La Pointe Stadium on Friday, 28 November.

Coming up against former coach Rulani Mokwena for the first time in the Caf Champions League, the Brazilians withstood massive pressure from a partisan home crowd and El Mouloudia to deny them any goals.

The stalemate sees Bafana ba Style hold onto top spot in group C ahead of Al Hilal's clash with Saint-Eloi Lupopo on Sunday, 30 November.

The hosts created the majority of the chances in the first half, although Masandawana survived some early scares and came close to opening the scoring when Tashreeq Matthews steered a header over the crossbar from Marcelo Allende's cross on 25 minutes.

Miguel Cardoso's side nearly found themselves a goal down at the break after Zinedine Ferhat latched onto a sumptuous ball over the top and looked to beat Ronwen Williams with a first-time lob, which cleared the crossbar.

Opportunities were few and far between in the second half, but MC Alger kept probing away and Sundowns remained resolute in the defence despite coming under increasing pressure, mostly from counter-attacks.

Cardoso will be happy with the point as this game was potentially their toughest on the road in the group stages, and they can now look forward to a two-month break in the Caf Champions League, which resumes in the final week of January 2026.

MC Alger 0

Sundowns 0

MC ALGER: A. Guendouz, M. Halaimia, A. Abdellaoui, M. Khelif, A. Bouguerra, O. Benhaoua (M. Zougrana 86'), L. Tabti, A. Bangoura (S. Bayazid 58'), M. Benkhemassa (M. Bangoura 87'), Z. Ferhat (A. Messoussa 77'), Z. Naidji (K. Zunon 77').

MAMELODI SUNDOWNS: R. Williams, K. Mudau, G. Kekana, K. Cupido (K. Johannes 90+4'), D. Lunga (A. Modiba 84'), M. Allende, T. Mokoena, M. Reisinho (T. Zwane 88'), N. Santos, I. Rayners (T. Maseko 90+3'), T. Matthews (A. Sales 84').