Maduka wants his Celtic charges to express themselves against Pirates

Just over two months after losing the Nedbank Cup final to Mamelodi Sundowns, Bloemfontein Celtic coach John Maduka is hoping that his players express themselves more when they take on Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.

READ: Pirates coach Zinnbauer happy to be in MTN8 final

Now, putting that all in the past as they look to redeem themselves, the Celtic mentor is adamant that his players will display a different performance from that of the Nedbank final.

“If you look at that game, you can see that most of the players were not free. They couldn’t express themselves enough. Going into this one, that game will help because we’ll know that we have been at this stage before,” said Maduka.

“For most of the players it’s their second final. So, it will be totally different from the first. You will see the players will have freedom. We hope we use that to our advantage and give our best. Play the game that we know and have prepared,”  added the former Celtic captain.

Phunya Sele-Sele managed to get their revenge against Downs, as they knocked out the Pretoria based outfit in the quarterfinals of the MTN8.

Victor Letsoalo netted the only of that match, which paved way for the Free State outfit to reach the final.

But before then, they had to come up against another Pretoria club in SuperSport United in the semifinals of the tournament.

The first leg saw the tie ending in a 1-1 draw with veteran striker Ndumiso Mabena scoring first for Celtic, while Gambani Lungu equalised for Matsatsantsa. However, in the second leg, it was Letsoala who became the hero for the Free State club as he scored the solitary goal to hand Celtic a 1-0 victory and a spot in the Wafa Wafa final.

While Celtic will be looking for the redemption of losing the Nedbank Cup, Pirates are on a quest to end their six-year trophy drought.

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