Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says too much has been made of the altercation in Angola on Sunday between his assistant Steve Komphela and the coach of opponents Wiliete, Beto Bianchi.
The Angolan side claimed Brazilian-born Bianchi needed treatment after being kicked in a sensitive region by Komphela, with Angolan media showing pictures of him lying in an ambulance and saying they would be complaining to the Confederation of African Football.
Komphela has accused Bianchi of racists taunts and of spitting at him, but Cardoso on Wednesday tried to bring down the temperature ahead of the second leg of their African Champions League second round tie at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday.
“There are two or three things that I can say,” Cardoso told the pre-match press conference.
“The first one is that small things sometimes can become big things when you obviously give them too much attention. And I think there was too much attention than it was necessary for what happened.
“Second is that we were very well received in Angola, very well received and right up until the last moment when we took our return flight. The clubs have established a fantastic relationship in terms of the way people connected.
“Football has a lot to do with emotions. There's a lot of emotions, sometimes.
“We’ve already overcame that, and for sure, it will be a beautiful match on Friday, with people that will respect each other, and we will give a good welcome to Wiliete.”
Cardoso said he had spent time with Bianchi before last Sunday’s first leg in Lubango, which ended in a goalless daw.
“And for sure, I will have an absolutely normal talk with him again. Also, again, this time, there will be no extra energy from both teams except inside the pitch, because that's where the teams will have to fight each other and to play each other.
“Let's not make a big noise of something that is very small. There's so many things that happen in football that we don't speak about, but this time it has flooded a little bit too much,” Cardoso added.