NEWS: ‘We should drink the champagne until the end and work hard every day’ – Emotional ES Tunis coach gracious after huge win over Mamelodi Sundowns

ES Tunis secured their passage to the continental showpiece’s final after soundly beating Sundowns by a 1-0 individual scoreline in the home and away leg for an aggregate 2-0 victory.

Despite the Brazilians coming into the tie as slight favourites and the South Africans remaining confident of progressing to the final despite a 1-0 first-leg deficit, it was the Tunisian giants who secured a famous win at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

Speaking after the final whistle, an emotional Cardoso shared how he would cherish the special moments of his managerial career.

“You need to enjoy the journey because I can tell you I already faced Barcelona at Camp Nou, and I don’t remember the occasion because I was too worried watching the pitch,” Cardoso said.

“Even the days leading up to the game I don’t remember, and that’s something that I changed a little bit.

“I work a lot, and I want my team to work hard, and my staff to work hard but I always tell them not to forget about profit [enjoyment].

“You know on the bus on the way here, I sent my assistant, Fabio a picture, even though he was sitting right next to me I sent him a picture on WhatsApp of the two of us at the Airport in Portugal when we departed for Tunisia.

“I wrote along with the picture, don’t forget the profit of today.

“Because sometimes we forget that, and we should not because life is like this [clicks fingers],” a visibly emotional Cardoso added.

“We should drink the champagne, as the expression says, until the end every time,  work hard every single day, and love.”