'Nothing to complain about,' says Miguel Cardoso despite Carling Knockout exit

Neither side was able to find a goal at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium but it was Gallants who emerged victorious in the subsequent penalty shootout (6-7).

Sundowns had been reduced to 10 men for the final five minutes of the tie and 30 minutes of extra-time following Miguel Reisinho's red card - just five minutes after replaced Arthur Sales, on his debut.

Speaking after the game, Cardoso said Sundowns played well, but were just not able to find a goal in open play.

He told SuperSport: "In the end my players fought so well through the 120 minutes, it's easy to then say we executed the plan, the plan, they sustained us as much as they could, handling our attacks one after the other, that's what we say.

"Nothing to complain about, the boys could not score, it's true, but hard fight, a lot of capacity to be resilient in the match, playing 50 minutes with one less player and we saw Sundowns controlling the game but we could not score to get the advantage. When it's penalties, nothing to complain, it's a matter of details and that's it."

Marcelo Allende, Fawaaz Basadien and Mosa Lebusa all missed from the spot, alongside successul penalties from Aubrey Modiba, Peter Shalulile, Nuno Santos, Teboho Mokoena, Thapelo Morena and Malibongwe Khoza.

"We tried to manage the moments, the team controlled the game throughout – we had a lot of situations, even with 10 players we found moments and ways to enter [the final third], we totally controlled the game, we didn't score that's all," added Carodso.

"Then the story gets written about the goal we didn't score, look those moments [red card] happens, it's unfortunate that we had to play so long without one player – but it's football, what we expect that he aligns with the team and helps the team his best.

“Like any other players, we have many who can help the team – help it in different moments – and nothing to complain about the boy, it's football – it can happen.”