Riveiro urges Pirates to seize the moment in Champions League showdown

Knowing exactly how crucial their clash against Jwaneng Galaxy is, Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says they want to perform to their best and give good memories to the Buccaneers fans when they host the Botswana outfit at Orlando Stadium on Friday.

Pirates and Jwaneng meet in the second leg of their Caf Champions League group stage qualifier, and Riveiro’s side have plenty of work to do, trailing 1-0 after the first leg in Gaborone.

“The expectations are to leave a memorable night tomorrow (Friday) for the Pirates family. We have an important game ahead of us, one of the most important,” said the Bucs mentor.

“We just have to prepare ourselves … to make sure we give our best and make sure we find ourselves in the group stages. That’s one of the objectives for the team this season. We have everything to make it possible and we are looking forward to starting the game and show what we are capable of doing.”

Training hard

Meanwhile, from a player’s perspective, Pirates skipper Innocent Maela says they have been training very hard for this encounter.

“The mood in the camp is good, very intense. Our training sessions have been very hard, and the focus is there to make sure that we go out there and we give it our all, so that we can progress to the group stages,” said Maela.

Riveiro will be hoping his side start the tie on a positive note and get onto the scoresheet as early as they can and make sure they don’t concede.

The Soweto giants head into this fixture having lost their last three games, something which the Spaniard will be looking to change.

Pirates have not been able to find the back of the net in those three matches, a factor Riveiro will have to resolve on Friday.