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APR Football Club are confident of eliminating Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland in the CAF Champions League preliminary round. The two sides meet in the second leg this afternoon at Kigali Regional Stadium.

The record 15-time Rwandan league champions will go into the game seeking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg two weeks ago in Swaziland. Mbabane’s single goal was scored by Wilson Ndzinisa Sabelo.

But the APR captain Ismail ‘Kodo’ Nshutinamagara is confident the military side can still win the game and proceed to the next round.

"In terms of preparations, we are ready for the game, and we want to win on Saturday. We have been improving in every game we’ve played since losing the first leg. I am sure this time we will put on a much improved performance in-front of our fans,” Nshutinamagara said.

Since the first leg, APR won two games in the local league and kept a clean sheet against SC Kiyovu 2-0 and Espoir 2-0 to move to fourth place with 24 points, five points behind leaders Mukura albeit with two games in hand (against Musanze and Amagaju).

Nshutinamagara added, "We want to display attacking football from the first whistle, we need to get an early goal, which will unsettle the opponent.  We will give our best we can because we want to advance to the next round.”

Meanwhile, Mbabane Swallows head coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati is buoyant that his side can still qualify for the next round.

"We have come here to win. We will do all we can to get goals, we know we are going to play a big team in this country, but our target remain the same, to qualify for the next round,” Vilakati said upon the team’s arrival at Kigali International Airport on Friday afternoon.

Should APR eliminate Mbabane Swallows, they will face the winner between Tanzania champions Young Africans and Cercle de Joachim of Mauritius on the weekend of March 11-13, with the return leg to be played a week later.

APR has represented Rwanda in the Champions League 13 times since their inaugural appearance in 1997 with their best performance being a third round finish in the 2004 season. This is the fifth appearance for Mbabane Swallows.

The match will be handled by Ugandan referee Alex Muhabi, who will be assisted by his compatriots, Samuel Kayondo and Ronald Katenya.

APR likely starting team:

Olivier Kwizera, Michel Rusheshangoga, Emery Bayisenge, Ismail Nshutinamagara Kodo (C), Albert Ngabo, Yannnick Mukunzi, Andrew Butera, Djihad Bizimana, Jean Claude Iranzi, Bernabe Mubumbyi and Michel Ndahinduka.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw