TP Mazembe coach Lamine N’diaye has stressed the importance of a strong start in their CAF Champions League second round, first leg encounter against Red Arrows.
N’diaye acknowledged Red Arrows’ recent form and emphasized the need for Mazembe to be prepared for a tough match.
“It is going to be a very difficult game because we are playing a team which has already played two games,” N’diaye said.
“We have experience in the Champions League so we will prepare the game like that, even if we have had some difficult times. We will do better in tomorrow’s game.”
N’diaye admitted that TP Mazembe’s current squad is not as strong as it was in the past, when the team had several national team players. However, he expressed confidence in the current team’s ability to compete at the highest level.
“We can’t compare the TP now and then,” N’diaye said. “We used to have nine players for the national team in DRC…at that time we had a lot of international players like Zambia and DRC. The players we have now are just playing CHAN.”
N’diaye is not new to Zambian opposition. In 2011, he was at TP Mazembe when they defeated Power Dynamos in the CAF Champions League.
