The Brazilians take on the reigning Premier Soccer League champions at the Lucas Moripe Stadium and Lopez, who has guided Sundowns to two wins in the first two games, admits he is wary of the threat posed by Gavin Hunt's charges.
"During my time in Spain I played a lot of derbies and it will be exciting for me to coach a team in a derby," he said. "But it is nothing new to me and I'm very excited about this challenge.
"We are aware that we will be playing against the champions of this league for the past three seasons and for me they are favourites to win this match."
The 53-year-old insists his team will go out and attack despite his underdog tag.
"We want to win as well, that's why we will attack them," he continued. "They are the favourites because they are the champions of this league, but we want to win. We have started very well and we want to keep that going and make sure we win."
Lopez, whose mandate is to win the league, dismissed suggestions that his team could put one hand on the trophy should they beat Matsatsantsa.
"We have only played two games and of course we won both of them, but the league still has 28 games to go so we can't win the league after just a few games," he added.
"I think we have a good team and the president of the club wants the league but right now our focus is only on one game and that is the one against SuperSport United. It is one game at a time."