Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro stopped short of labelling Stellenbosch FC favourites, for the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium, in Durban, on Saturday.
Though Pirates had the better of Stellenbosch in the MTN8 over two legs last season on their way to winning the competition for a second time in a row, the Soweto Giants did not fare quite as well against their opponents in league meetings.
In the league, Stellies beat Pirates twice — and it’s not something that Riveiro can easily forget.
In fact, for Pirates fans it may even play into their teams hands as they might be more motivated to get one back on their tricky foes, especially with a trophy on the line.
‘We respect them big time’
“We have to accept Stellenbosch the way they are. We respect them big time,” Riveiro said.
“We faced Stellenbosch four times last season in the MTN8 semi-final and in our two games in the league.
“We beat them once (in the MTN8) it took us 94 minutes in Athlone to beat them against 10 players. We didn’t get the results in any of the other games.”
Clearly, Riveiro did not want to dwell on the two league losses but conceded his charges would need to be at their best if they are to overcome the Steve Barker-coached Stellenbosch.
“We know very well what it means to play Stellenbosch and we have to accept that it’s going to be a game where we are going to be permanently under threat because there are going to be transitions.
“It doesn’t matter how good we are or how we prepare ourselves for that situation, we know what is coming.”