Reigning DStv Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns suffered their first defeat of the 2021/22 CAF Champions League campaign after being handed a 2-1 defeat away from home to Angolan side Petro de Luanda on Saturday.
Despite seeing his side surrender their lead, Sundowns' co-coach Rulani Mokwena revealed that he was pleased with his side's second-half performance, albeit without the reward of a second goal on the night.
"At Sundowns we play every match to win. We came here to try to win," Mokwena said during his post-match press conference.
"I am disappointed with the display in the first half, [where we were] lacking aggression and lacking intensity but we showed that we are much better than our first-half performance in the second half.
"We created more goal-scoring opportunities, had more final third opportunities and dominated the ball a little bit more. We dominated the field a bit more by pressing the line a little bit higher and trying to press from the top."
"I'm reminded of something Jürgen Klopp once said to me when I visited [Liverpool's former training ground] Melwood," he added.
"I never thought I would use it because I am a coach who wants to win every match, but because in football you either win lose or draw, you have all those possibilities every time a match starts.
"Jürgen Klopp said to me, 'If you want to succeed in football, lose the right matches.' And I think we lost the right match because it doesn't knock us out of the competition and we still have a chance to correct the tie [in the return leg]."
Sundowns will play host to Petro de Luanda in the second leg at the FNB Stadium on Saturday, 23 April, with the match scheduled to kick off at 18:30.