Miguel Cardoso reveals Mamelodi Sundowns' team talk that toppled Orlando Pirates

Miguel Cardoso revealed he challenged his players to treat the Betway Premiership's top-of-the-table clash as if it were the "last game of their lives", a message that inspired Mamelodi Sundowns to a 2-1 victory over Orlando Pirates on Wednesday night.

Speaking during the post-match media conference at the FNB Stadium, the 53-year-old Portuguese coach shared that his pre-match and half-time addresses were identical in their intensity.

“I told my players in the locker room: ‘If you were supposed to play the last game of your lives today, how would you play it?’ And at halftime, I told them the same: ‘If you were to play the last second half of football in your lives, how would you play it?’ And they played like there was no tomorrow.”

That defiant attitude earned Sundowns maximum points and blew the league title race wide open as the second half of the campaign gets underway.

However, Cardoso was careful not to get carried away by the occasion. While clearly relieved to have whittled the Buccaneers’ lead down to just three points — with the Brazilians still holding a crucial game in hand — he remained firmly rooted in the reality of the season's remaining fixtures.

“We continue to believe, and that's what we're going to do,” Cardoso said. “Today is just one game out of ... how many do we still have to play? I don't even know.

"There are so many in such a sequence of matches that we can only put our hands on our heads and ask how we're going to survive. But we must work as best as we can, make the players believe that all of them are very important, and later just hope that they can stand up and be at the level of the challenges that we have. Nothing more. Absolutely nothing more.”

Though cautious about the long-term implications of the win, Cardoso was full of praise for his squad's commitment while acknowledging that fortune favoured the brave on a night of high drama.

“There's a thin margin in football. Thin margins have fallen on one side and then the other. Today, there was a thin margin that fell for our side because the emotions were so strong on our part. Things had to happen. There was no other way because the commitment and the intentionality were so strong.”