Innocent Maela addresses unfair comparison to past Orlando Pirates teams

Ahead of tonight’s CAF Champions League preliminary round second leg encounter against Madagascar’s Disciples FC, questions have been asked about the current team’s drive to emulate the achievements of the previous group.

Maela, who led a Pirates team that lost to RS Berkane in the CAFCC final back then, is not happy with the comparison.

"I don't think it's fair to go back to the group that played the [Confed Cup] final because most of those players are no longer here with us," defended Maela.

"So this is a new group with new experiences, and we want to go as far as possible in this competition and grow within the continental space."

Maela says this current group of players want to write their own history.

"Regarding this competition, it's a new group and for most of the players it's an opportunity for us to grow within the competition and approach it with a lot of humility," he added.

"But we're looking forward to competing with the best in the continent and test ourselves – that is where the club deserves to be and where we want to be as players, we're very ambitious and we want to be in that space for as long as possible."

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