CAFCL: Orlando Pirates was the better side over the two legs – Riveiro

Photo Credit - Orlando Pirates Media.

Orlando Pirates head coach José Riveiro heaped praise on his side after they secured a place in the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League following a 1-0 aggregate win over MC Alger.

The South African club registered a 0-0 draw in the deciding leg of their quarter-final tie against the Algerian side at Orlando Stadium. Wednesday’s result secured their ticket to the last four as they progress through a 1-0 aggregate score after their narrow win in the away leg.

It’s a welcome return to the semis for the Soweto Giants, whose last appearance at a similar stage of the tournament was in 2013. Their triumph sets them up for a return to North Africa, where they will engage in a historic battle with Egyptian outfit Pyramids.

“Orlando Pirates was the better team I think during the two games,” Riveiro told SABC Sport. “So congratulations to the boys, to the club, to our fans. This is a fantastic moment for all of us and we have to really enjoy the moment. There’s nothing that can change the fact that we are in the semi-finals. Oh, it’s a difficult team to play against long balls one after the other. It doesn’t matter you cannot press them, you cannot have possession in their half after pressing because they will kick the ball as soon as they see a little bit of ball possession.

They are good in the second actions. They are a strong, good side, so they have the capacity at least to take you there for two or more times after the long ball. But I don’t think that we suffered so much in those actions. I think the game of our back-five, back-three was excellent [Thalente] Mbatha and [Makhehleni] Makhaula in the second balls Rele [Relebohile Mofokeng]. The way that Dion [Hotto] and Deano [Van Rooyen] helped us to run away of the pressing in the first half it was excellent."

He concluded: “We play with a big heart. We play the way that you have to play this type of games. It’s not about making the game beautiful. It’s not going to be beautiful, it cannot be.

“You need two teams to try to play good football. If it’s only one, it’s not possible. So you know it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a war and it was like that what we expected.”