Clyde Senaji says FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are ready for the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League first preliminary round return match against Zambian Champions Red Arrows at the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka on Saturday.
Our vice-captain told the press in Lusaka on Friday that every player in camp knows what’s at stake for The People’s Team to progress to the next round of African football’s biggest club competition.
Bullets, who are going into this match with a slender 2-1 lead, arrived in Lusaka on Thursday ahead of the important tie against the Airmen, who scored first in the first leg away in Lilongwe on Sunday.
“We are ready. We are prepared for the match. Everyone is ready in the camp because we know what’s at stake here,” the defender said during the presser at the Football House.
“Every player has goals and targets to achieve and these are the type of games that provide a good platform for players to make a breakthrough to their dreams. Also, as a team, we come to this competition with ambitions and targets that we set. We came here for a good result and we will fight as much as we can to get a good result.”
The Kenyan international, who is playing CAF Champions League football for a second season with the Malawi champions, commented on whether Bullets would be under pressure playing away, with Red Arrows having the home fans behind them.
“[There’s] no pressure at all. I think the Champions League is a game of champions. We are champions of Malawi, and this competition represents champions of different countries, so we should be able to play under pressure so that we are able to achieve our goals. We have to be able to play under pressure wherever we go to play our matches.”
This will be the second meeting between the two teams. Bullets won the first leg 2-1 courtesy of a strike each from Babatunde Adepoju and Precious Phiri while Ricky Banda scored for Arrows in Lilongwe.
Winners of this preliminary phase will proceed to the final qualifying round where the Democratic Republic of Congo giants TP Mazembe, who knocked Bullets out of the competition last season at the same stage, await.
This also marks the first trip for the Malawi champions to Zambia since the 2004/2005 Champions League campaign, where they eliminated Zanaco FC 6-5 on penalties.
The first leg in Zambia ended 1-0 in favour of Bullets courtesy of a fantastic goal from Jimmy Zakazaka and the second leg was decided through spot kicks after Zanaco scored away in Blantyre to level the scoreline at the end of regulation time.
