Sundowns are in high spirits after ending a five-game winless run in the league with an emphatic 5-0 demolition of Tshwane rivals SuperSport United on Thursday.
And while Mosimane admits the result alleviated pressure on the Brazilians, he has respect for Ea Lla Koto despite beating the relegation-threatened outfit 4-1 in the reverse fixture in December.
"I am relieved for sure. You got to understand the tension, the stress I have been having,” said Mosimane.
"I haven’t been sleeping properly not because of the team not playing well but when are we going to break the ice. So I am relieved for the players. Remember I am not playing, they are playing and when they are feeling better it's good for us, and yes I am relieved about that."
He added: "We should tread carefully against Free State Stars. Those guys can score. They are a good team. We need to respect them. They come from defeat from the club. They are a little bit of a difficult team. But somewhere somehow I think we have been getting good results against them in the last two years, but you may never know."
Downs have been struggling with injuries, with Brazilian Ricardo Nascimento the latest casualty after hurting his groin against Matsatsantsa at Loftus Stadium. Fellow defender Motjeka Madisha has been given opportunities of late, and Mosimane hopes the 22-year-old maintains his focus.
“Madisha is unbelievable. For me against Arrows he was my man of the match but man of the match went to the goalkeeper because he was saving the balls. But Madisha was man of the match last week and even [against SuperSport].
“He is just showing the coach gave me a chance to play and let me play. He stuck to his man. To play against a player like [Kingston] Nkhatha is not easy and [Jeremy] Brockie. It's good, we have a good product from our development and from the MDC like Percy [Tau]. We wish we can promote as easy as like Arrows, like Ajax but it's not easy. We have different objectives. We want to win the league, we want to win the champions league.
"Madisha is good, I just pray he remains humble and appreciates the chance of playing," concluded Mosimane ahead of the 15h00 kick-off in Orkney.
