The draw against Petro is what Sundowns preferred considering the distance to Luanda compared to all other opponents they could have faced who are from North Africa.
The Brazilians won 3-0 at home before they drew 2-2 away at the Estadio 11 de Novembro in the 2019/20 CAF Champions League group stages.
They also knocked out the Angolans in the semi-finals of the 2001 edition of the same competition.
"This is the Champions League, and the past results mean absolutely nothing," says Mokwena.
"History speaks about possibilities and what has happened and yet the future speaks about eventualities and what could possibly happen and that is in relation to how we treat the present.
"So, ours is just to continue focus on what we do and try to play the game the way it is supposed to be played with a lot of changes from both sides. Petro have different players to what they had in 2019/20.
"They still have a couple that played Sundowns and Sundowns still has some who played against Petro, but the reality is that with the game always changing every single year with the Champions League becoming harder and harder to play it then means we have to focus on this tie with all our focus and energies without any form of connotations being passed," he says.
The Sundowns technical mind still feels Petro deserve the respect and is already armed with detail about them.
"We accept that we could have faced any other strong side.
"Petro are a very strong side with good Champions League experience. They have been in the Champions League now for three years in a row although the last two times they could not qualify from the group. So, it is their first time in the quarterfinals but what we have seen this season is that they are a very capable team.
"We have seen Tiago (Azulao), the number 26, who is a striker season and their CAF leading scorer on four goals. Jaredi, the number 29 is a dribbling winger with the highest number of assists with three, but everything goes through Soares their defensive midfielder, the number five in midfield and is the one who dictates the terms and influences the dynamics of the team.
"So, we have a bit of intel but there is still work to be done prior to getting there as we still have some important matches in the domestic league and an important cup game prior to getting to having to focus on Petro," details Mokwena.