Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane praised Steve Komphela for his work at Bloemfontein Celtic, admitting they were difficult to beat in the Telkom Knockout last 16

The Brazilians ultimately progressed to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory, with Gaston Sirino scoring the only goal of the game.

However, Mosimane admitted that Celtic played so well that his team had no choice but to play on the counter.

"For me, with experience of being in the [CAF] Champions League for so many years, this was a Champions League game," Mosimane told SuperSport.

"This was high-level football. Not many teams can bypass our pressing. We tried to press, we tried to deal with [Lantshene] Phalane, and then came [Kabelo] Dlamini, the number four.

"It's not easy -- and to deal with [Ronald] Pfumbidzai as a wing-back. They are not afraid, they are pushing there.

"Steve plays good football. It's good to see football played like this by local coaches. It's high level, it's top level. We had to play on the break, because they put us under stress, pressure."

Mosimane revealed that the way Sundowns dealt with a tricky Phunya Sele Sele was by playing the ball in behind via Hlompho Kekana. Ultimately, it was his through pass which sent Sirino through for the winner.

The defending Premiership champions will now return to league action away to Chippa United on October 27.