Riveiro content with improved Pirates in Champions League victory

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says their Caf Champions League second leg meeting with Djabal FC was better than the first leg because they knew what to expect from the Comoros side after easing past them 3-0 at Orlando Stadium on Friday.

Riveiro and his Buccaneers charges knew very little about Djabal when they played in the first leg in the Comoros about a week earlier, and were only able to sneak a 1-0 win at the Stade De Moroni.

But a much more accomplished performance followed on Friday, to take Pirates comfortably into the final round of qualifying for the Champions League group stages.

Pirates will now take on Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana for a place in the last 16.

“The game we expected to play was pretty much exactly the same as the one we played in the Comoros,” said the Pirates head coach.

“It was the same approach from the opponents, a low block, with … man marking in some areas. But we were better prepared than in the first game because we didn’t know so much about the opponents (then).

“I think we were in control of the game, but it was not easy because we were forced to take initiative every single minute of the game. And that made us feel like we were in a hurry … we were looking for the first goal to consolidate the result.”

In the game, Riveiro felt that his players weren’t aggressive enough to score more, especially in the later stages of the first half.

Time wasting

The Sea Robbers mentor also felt like their opponents were wasting a lot of time in the game, but he was glad to see his players finishing the game more organised.

“We didn’t continue the same way in the last part of the first half, we should have been more aggressive looking for the second goal and spending more time in the half of the opponents. But the game had a lot of interruptions and every throw-in was like a corner for them, taking about 30 to 50 seconds to put the ball in,” Riveiro added.

“The second half started the way we expected again. They didn’t change so much even though they were losing. So again, we had to take the initiative and we managed to be a bit more organised than in the first half.”