Riveiro praises ‘bunch of winners’ Pirates after Jwaneng victory

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro is delighted to have achieved one of his targets and that is to qualify for the group stages of the CAF Champions League.

The Buccaneers were dumped out of the competition by Jwaneng Galaxy in the second preliminary round last season, but this time it was Pirates who had the last laugh against the same opponents as they knocked the Botswana champions out of the tournament with a 3-0 aggregate score.

A 2-0 win away in Botswana last week was followed by a 1-0 victory at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

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“We have a very young team. For most of these young players, it’s the first time they will play in the group stages of the Champions League. It’s also the first time for me as well to qualify the team for the Champions League,” Riveiro told reporters in Orlando on Saturday.

“We’re really satisfied with our performances [in the preliminary round], four games, four clean sheets. We also scored a good number of goals in these four games so I’m happy with the overall performance of the team,” added the Spanish coach.

Pirates were not at their usual best at home against Jwaneng and it took a last minute goal by Monnapule Saleng to get the better of the Botswana outfit. Riveiro admits that the Buccaneers were not convincing on the night, but adds what matters most is the result.

“It was not a beautiful game today (yesterday), where we can say Pirates created a lot of chances. No, it was not that type of a game. I think it was professional performance, but we got the result that we wanted. Sometimes football is like this. I’m happy to see the team growing in this direction.”

“We have a group of young and talented players, a bunch of winners.

“They want to continue improving and winning, and again having the continuity to play in this type of tournament. It [The CAF CHampions League] is an interesting tournament against quality opponents and tough games, so every pinch of experience will come,” commented Riveiro,

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The Spaniard is backing his young Pirates side to continue to do well in the CAF Champions League.

“The talent is there; the quality is there. We only need to keep going and accumulate experiences together and the future will be fine.”