Orlando Pirates target CAF Champions League group stages

By Velile Mnyandu
29th September 2023

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro is fully aware they need to beat Botswana side Jwaneng Galaxy by two goals to ensure their progression to the group stage of the CAF Champions League.

Galaxy shocked Pirates with a 1-0 victory in their first-leg tie in Gaborone, Botswana two weeks ago, with the decisive second leg set for Orlando Stadium on Friday evening (19:30 kick-off).

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Riveiro, speaking to the media on Thursday, spoke of their aims to dominate the game and make use of their home advantage.

"We need to win the game with a two-goal advantage – that's the target at the end of the 90 minutes, and we need to dominate the game in every scenario," said Riveiro.

"We need to feel that we are applying that domination, which means we make sure we are not running back [to defend] too much, that we can apply our game-plan.

"Football is not as explicit where you can say that you are looking for a goal in the first 20 minutes, and then for the next one [in another segment].

"We have to show that we are the better team, that we are capable of doing it, and there's no time to waste, so what we want is to dominate the game – when we do that, we'll be closer to getting the result we are looking for."

Pirates are currently on a run of three consecutive losses, which started with this away loss to South African coach Morena Ramoreboli’s side.

The Spaniard is adamant they have the players to face these difficult conditions and not only return to winning ways but to do so in style and reaching the group stages of the continental showpiece.

"We come from difficult results to accept in the last three games in three different competitions. Fortunetaly, in the last one, the result was enough for us to go to a final – we should not forget that we will be in one more [cup] final, even though we lost the last game," he highlighted.

"Sometimes those results are convenient during the process to understand that when you are not at your best and you don't have the proper mindset, you can easily look like a different team – and that's what we don't want to be."

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