Stade d’Abidjan confident ahead of do-or-die Orlando Pirates clash

This was the tone from the club’s head coach Serge Alain Douayere during a matchday minus-one press conference at the match venue on Friday.

The two teams played to a 1-1 draw in what was a game of two halves in Abidjan last month, and Douayere says they will look to exploit some of Pirates’ weaknesses.

"So, though we respect them, we believe that like any other team there are always some weaknesses but this is not a place for us to reveal those weaknesses. We are trying to exploit them, hence I've said again I believe we need to beat them in order for us to progress. Yes, they have weaknesses, so do we but we are not going to unveil them," Douayere said.

Stade d’Abidjan boast the youngest coach in CAF Champions League history in 27-year-old Frenchman Alexandre Lafitte, but he does not have the required coaching documents to sit on the bench.

Douayere, a former Elephants player with the required CAF A licence, says this tournament is significant in the club’s history.

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"It's been 54 years since we've been at the high level especially with the team but we have a good technical team. I've got very good staff members and we believe that we still have nine points to play for and we're going to give our best to make sure that we get them. We know that it's not gonna be easy but we'll try our best," he added.

A loss to Pirates will end any hopes Stade d’Abidjan have of progressing to the next stage in the competition, but Douayere insists, judging by the pattern of their results so far in this tournament, there’s progress in their play.

"I believe that there's hope, if you look at the results, yes we lost against Al Ahly 4-2 and then at home we lost against Belouizdad and then we drew against Orlando Pirates.

“So if you look at how the results have been coming you can see that there's improvement. So, it's fine to take it one step at a time and try to improve, we know what is at stake."