GAME DAY: Vilakazi backs Sundowns to banish past scars in CAF Champions League final

Mamelodi Sundowns legend Sibusiso Vilakazi believes the scars of the past will drive his former team to victory in the CAF Champions League first-leg final at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.

The Brazilians face AS FAR in Pretoria before travelling next week to Morocco for the second leg.

Vilakazi, who is a five-time Betway Premiership winner with Sundowns, missed out on Masandawana’s successful 2016 CAF Champions League campaign due to being cup-tied with his previous club, Wits.

It was also the last time Sundowns won the elite continental competition, suffering two further final defeats, including last year against Egyptian club Pyramids.

Vilakazi believes these final defeats would have left an indelible mark on Sundowns, which they will go all out to remove over the next two legs.

“I think now the squad is very much ready,” he said on Mamelodi Sundowns’ Pitchside Podcast.

“The squad has learnt. The squad has so many scars, and I believe they could lean into those scars and then let it rip, man.”

Vilakazi is hoping to see Sundowns come out all guns blazing at their fortress Loftus before having to make the trip to North Africa.

“I can't even see this thing ending either way. I can only see us lifting the trophy,” he said.

“But before lifting the trophy, we have the first leg that we need to take care of. We need the energy. We need the creativity.

“We need each and everything that we have. Each and every arsenal that we have, we need to expose that arsenal on the field of play.”

Kickoff is at 4pm.