Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says the Absa Premiership is more important after their exit from the Nedbank Cup semi-final on Sunday.

The Brazilians were eliminated from the competition after suffering a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium when Lebohang Maboe, Mxolisi Kunene and Fortune Makaringe cancelled out Gaton Sirino’s opener.

Mosimane feels the league is more important than the Nedbank Cup and he believes it takes preference over the cup competition, despite their exit in the semi-final.

“What is important? The league, where you have already played 27 games and to finish on top or the Nedbank cup where you have played four games, what is your priority?” Mosimane told SuperSport TV after the game.

“I’m not saying that because we lost, we want to win, but what is bigger? The league! So we need to try again, we controlled the game in the first half. There was never a problem for us. It is the red card [for Gaston Sirino]. That’s the way that the referee saw that, so we should accept it.

“Congratulations to them [Maritzburg]. They deserve it more than us. They need the cup, we need the league. Not to say we didn’t want the cup, we wanted the cup, but you can’t get everything.”

The Sundowns coach will be hoping his side can redeem themselves when they take on the same opponents again within the space of three days hoping to claim maximum point to go one step closer to clinching the PSL title.

“You must take whatever is on offer and fight again. We can win on Wednesday,” he added.

“We have to change for Wednesday because Anele [Ngcongca] has been kicked out [injured], Gaston [Sirino] has the red card. Then we can get the captain back [Hlompho Kekana] and we will see. Vila [Sibusiso Vilakazi] has a hamstring that has been giving him a hard time, the last two games he could not finish them. I need him for Wednesday, so we had to substitute him today, and I need Percy’s legs for Wednesday because we have to be realistic and humble enough to say the game is gone and we have bigger things to go for.

“We have the Champions League, the Nedbank Cup is gone. We tried our best.”

Mamelodi Sundowns against Maritzburg United kicks off at 19:30.