‘You go to Sporting Lisbon and you take out Viktor Gyökeres, who went to Arsenal, and they are struggling,’ Cardoso said.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has admitted that the absence of Lucas Ribeiro has taken some of the sting out of the team’s attacking threat, despite their 2-0 win over AmaZulu in a Betway Premiership clash at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday night.
Ribeiro was also missing from last Saturday’s 1-1 league draw away to Chippa United, as well as the 4-0 victory over Richards Bay in the MTN8 quarter-final. It was their first match of the season without last season’s top goalscorer in the PSL.
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The midfielder is on the verge of securing a move abroad after a stellar campaign in which he was crowned the 2024/25 PSL Footballer of the Season. The Brazilians might have returned to winning ways against Usuthu, but they were far from their fluent best. Cardoso also had to make do without unsettled defender Khuliso Mudau, who has yet to kick a ball this season amid uncertainty over his future.
“You go to Sporting Lisbon and you take out Viktor Gyökeres, who went to Arsenal, and they are struggling. If you take out Relebohile Mofokeng from Pirates, you will see how they will struggle because they are players that are key in the way that the team creates dynamics,” Cardoso said when asked about Ribeiro’s absence.
“The numbers of Lucas speak for him and it’s up to us now to find the solutions collectively so that we can overcome what he used to do on the pitch. We are working and developing inside the club. We are looking for players who can reinforce the team and we need to make the right choices and we can’t rush.”
Although Cardoso expressed confidence in plugging the gap left by Ribeiro, who ended last season with 16 league goals, the outspoken coach admitted he would have preferred the player’s imminent departure to have been resolved before the new campaign kicked off.
“I would have liked it to have been handled before the season started but it’s not like that because things happened. We are dealing with the situation in the best way,” he added.
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“The club is very professional and very capable of solving the issues that we have on our hands. The club is not concerned and we know very well where we want to go. I just need to keep working with the team. I will always give my best with whichever players that I have.”
