Riveiro hails Pirates players’ attitude after Stade d’Abidjan romp

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has hailed his players’ attitude following the convincing victory against Stade d’Abidjan.

This comes after the Buccaneers handed the Ivorian outfit a 3-0 drubbing in a CAF Champions League group clash at Orlando Stadium on Saturday with Relebohile Mofokeng, Patrick Maswanganyi and Deon Hotto scoring the goals for the home side.

READ MORE: Pirates rout d’Abidjan to retain unbeaten run in Champs League

The victory saw Pirates topple Al-Ahly at the top of the Group C standings with eight points after four games. Al-Ahly are second with seven points, CR Belouizdad are third with six and Stade d’Abidjan are last with only a point in their name.

“Incredible performance from the guys. From the first whistle until the last. I think the attitude was the attitude of a team that wants to do something special tonight, that wants to grow as a team and to achieve things together. I think they showed that from the very first minute, especially from the offensive phase,” said Riveiro during a post-match conference in Orlando.

Even though Pirates look like a sure bet to qualify for the knockout stage of the competition, Riveiro has warned that the Buccaneers are not there yet.

“Everybody could see that we played some good football in some critical moments of the game, with less practicality. The game tonight was played at a very high tempo. There were a lot of positive things in this game more than the result. But in the end, it (the result) was also important because we accumulated points.

“With two more games to go, it is now in our hands to find ourselves in the top eight [quarterfinals of the CAF Champions League]. But there are still a lot of things to be done. We still have to play two tough games, but today we proved that we can compete,” commented Riveiro.

Pirates’ next Champions League group clash is against third-placed CR Belouizdad at home at Orlando Stadium next Sunday and a win in that game will cement their place in the quarterfinals of the competition with one game to spare.

However, before that, the Buccaneers will travel to the Mother City to face Cape Town City in a Betway Premiership clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday.