Riveiro happy with Pirates start in title race against Sundowns

Orlando Pirates’ great start to the 2024/25 Betway Premiership has given the millions of their supporters some hope that they could finally halt Mamelodi Sundowns’ dominance and win the league title this season.

The Buccaneers last won the league in the 2011/12 season and have been runners up to the Brazilians for the past two seasons under coach Jose Riveiro.

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Pirates have amassed 33 points in 13 games so far this campaign and are six points behind Sundowns who have played a game more than them.

Ironically, the two sides meet each other in the next league encounter at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday in what is expected to be a mouth-watering encounter.

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 win over Sekhukhune United at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday night, Riveiro said he is enjoying the title race and the pressure that comes with it.

“We’re trying, we’re having a fantastic start. We’re in February, but we can still talk about the start of the league because it’s game number 13, but at the same time, we are fighting with other good teams,” Riveiro told the media in Polokwane.

“One of them being an excellent team [Mamelodi Sundowns], who are the champions for the last seven years, if I’m not mistaken, so even though we’ve had an excellent start to the season, we’re still some points behind, but we’re not going to stop, we’ll keep fighting and performing.”

Having survived the nervy finish against Babina Noko on Wednesday evening, where goalkeeper Sipho Chaine pulled off some great saves to make sure that the Buccaneers took all the three points on offer, Riveiro is hoping that Pirates will have more luck in the coming games and keep the pressure on Sundowns.

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“Hopefully we’ll have enough luck every week to get the result. Like I said, the pressure has been the same since day one, there’s nothing different this season.

“It’s true that right now the team is giving more reasons to the people to think we can make it, and that’s very good, but there’s nothing new or different in terms of the responsibility that we all feel to be part of this team,” concluded the Spaniard.