Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes Sphelele Mkhulise should have walked away with the Man of the Match award following his match-winning performance.

The Brazilians secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over TS Galaxy in their Betway Premiership opener at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Galaxy striker Victor Letsoalo, who scored a brace, was named Man-of-the-Match, but the Sundowns mentor believes that substitute Mkhulise should have walked away with the award.

Cardoso believes Mkhulise deservedly earned the Man-of-the-Match award after providing the energy and crucial goal Sundowns needed to secure the result.

“I think he deserves to be man-of-the-match today, sorry by all the work Letsoalo did. But I think today the Man-of-the-Match will very deservedly be Pitso Mkhulise by what he means, what he means for the club for us,” Cardoso told SuperSport after the game.

“He is a player with a fantastic character because he is able to sometimes sustain the aggression of not being called.

“But we know that we have a brother, a friend, somebody that has quality and when we bring him, we know what to expect.

“Today, he gave us the luck we needed, the energy that we needed the goal. I put him on my shoulder.

“I took him in front of the fans because he deserves to be carried by me because he also carried us to get the result we needed.”