Cardoso happy Santos has found his ‘smile’ again

"Because he found that smile, I felt it comfortable to play him," Cardoso said. Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has praised Nuno Santos after the Portuguese midfielder delivered a standout performance in their 2-1 victory over Al-Ahli Saudi in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. Santos marked his return to the Sundowns starting XI in style, scoring twice with headers in each half as the Brazilians secured the FIFA African-Asian Pacific Cup and booked their place in the next round of the competition. The 26-year-old has endured a difficult start to the new season, having made just one start before Saturday’s encounter. There’s speculation that Santos has become disillusioned with life in South Africa during his second season at Sundowns, particularly following the departure of compatriot Miguel Reisinho at the start of the campaign. “What happened today is that they embraced each other and Nuno had his (difficult) moment and it was not an easy moment,” Cardoso said after the match. “It’s not important today to speak about it of course. What’s important is that he had a smile on his face today and because he found that smile, I felt comfortable to play with him.” Cardoso reveals talks with Santos Prior to the Ahli clash, Santos had only started against TS Galaxy in a Betway Premiership fixture. He came off the bench in the 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final before making another substitute appearance in the away league match against Chippa United. “I didn’t give him (Santos) the opportunity to give him a smile but he smiled, embraced the team and his teammates,” Cardoso said about the state of the former Vitória Guimarães’ mindset. “We had many talks and he said, ‘coach I’ll give the team that the team needs and it’s where I’ll prove that I’m with you guys all the way’. There were also some individual fantastic performances on the pitch. ‘They understood the messsage’ Santos opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a well-taken header, but Sundowns’ advantage lasted just two minutes before an unfortunate own goal by Ronwen Williams brought Al-Ahli level. However, the Tshwane giants stepped up their performance after the break, with Cardoso explaining how he challenged his players at half-time. “There was a moment of doubt in the first half, and I told them at half time,” the former Espérance coach concluded. “That I want to come here at the end of the match and look in their eyes and feel peaceful. They understood the message because we had to give everything that we had.” Sundowns will now await the winner of the tie between Mexican side Toluca and the eventual 2026 Copa Libertadores champions. Should they progress from that round, Masandawana will face Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the competition, which brings together the six continental champions.