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Riveiro at a loss for words after Pirates loss in Champions League
Riveiro says failing to make it to the group stages of the Champions League is not acceptable for a team like Pirates.
Jose Riveiro during the Caf Champions League 2023/24 match between Orlando Pirates and Jwaneng Galaxy at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday. (Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix)
Jose Riveiro battled to explain how Orlando Pirates got knocked-out of the Caf Champions League.
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The Buccaneers bowed out of the elite continental club competition after losing 5-4 on penalties to Botswana’s Jwaneng Galaxy.
The game had to be decided on penalties after teams were tied 1-1 on aggregate.
Jwaneng claimed a victory a 1-0 victory in the first leg and Pirates also won by the same scoreline in the return leg at the Orlando Stadium on Friday. Substitute Evidence Makgopa scored the winner for the Buccaneers.
“It is a difficult game to explain from the scoring perspective, the guys’ performance tonight was more than enough to drive us to the group stages. But for reasons that’s still difficult to explain at this moment straight after the game, we couldn’t make it in the 90 minutes and then in the penalties, everything can happen,” said Riveiro after the match.
“It’s part of the game, something we need to do better and dominate. We couldn’t (win with a bigger margin). We started with a 1-0 disadvantage but I think, I don’t know (how we could not score more goals). It is difficult to explain how we scored one goal in four games and the way we did it today was an ugly goal.”
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Riveiro added that failing to make it to the group stages of the Champions League is not acceptable for a team like Pirates with the squad they have.
“A difficult day, not acceptable, this team is built and prepared to go to the Champions League group stage. So, we can’t accept this result and say we are unlucky. Nobody feels proud of the result and the fact that we are not going to the group stages,” he continued.
“We have to accept it, analyse it (the match) and take responsibility (for losing). The coach more than anybody else and we need to do a proper reflection about our participation in this competition because obviously, it wasn’t good enough.”
