About us

Football Development

Official Documents

Post Match Stats: Key numbers behind Sundowns’ march to final after win over Esperance

Published:

Mamelodi Sundowns’ 1-0 victory over Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Pretoria not only secured their place in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final but also produced a series of standout post-match statistics that underline their growing dominance on the continent.

The South African champions are now into their fourth final — and a second in successive seasons — further distancing themselves from other clubs in the country in terms of continental pedigree.

Their formidable home record continued, extending an impressive unbeaten run that has made Pretoria a fortress in recent campaigns.

Individually, Brayan León’s decisive contribution added another milestone to his rising profile, while the match also delivered rare moments such as a penalty at this stage of the competition.

For Espérance, the numbers reflect a difficult outing, marking an uncommon two-legged defeat and highlighting how fine margins shaped the semi-final tie.

Below are the key statistics and and key information from the match:

  • Mamelodi Sundowns have reached the CAF Champions League final for the fourth time in the club’s history and for the second year in a row. Indeed, all other South African clubs have two CAF CL finals combined (Orlando Pirates in 2013 and Kaizer Chiefs in 2020-21).
  • ES Tunis have lost both games of a two-legged knockout tie in the CAF Champions League for the first time since the 2022-23 semi-finals against Al Ahly (0-3 and 0-1).
  • Mamelodi Sundowns have lost just one of their 26 home games across the last five seasons in the CAF Champions League (W15 D10) and are unbeaten on home soil in the last two campaigns (W6 D5).
  • Mamelodi Sundowns won a penalty in a CAF Champions League game for the first time since March 2024 (vs TP Mazembe in the group stages), ending a run of 25 games without a single penalty taken. Meanwhile, this was their first penalty in a knockout stage in the competition since April 2022 (vs Petro de Luanda in the quarter-finals).
  • Mamelodi Sundowns’ Brayan Léon became just the third player on record (since 2016-17) to score in four consecutive starts in the CAF Champions League, after Walid Soliman in 2018 and Ayoub El Kaabi in 2019-2021.
  • ES Tunis’ Béchir Ben Saïd is the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a semi-final or final game in the CAF Champions League since Al Ahly’s Mohamed El Shenawy in the semi-final tie against Wydad Casablanca in October 2020.