Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has responded to questions whether the upcoming Soweto Derby in the Carling Black Label Cup will be less important than other clashes between the two rivals.
The Buccaneers and the Glamour Boys will face each other for the second time in two weeks after the Amakhosi beat their rivals 1-0 in the recent Soweto Derby in the DStv Premiership.
On saturday, the two sides will face each other in the semi-final of the Carling Black Label Cup but Riveiro insisted the game will just be as intense as other derbies.
“At 12 o’clock, there is going to be Pirates and Chiefs on the field, 11 against 11, there is going to be a full crowd,” he told reporters.
“It’s going to be an intense game, a beautiful game to play and that’s the most important thing.
“From the players’ perspective, from the coaches’ perspective, that’s the only thing that matters. We’re going to prepare ourselves as good as possible. We’re going to play with the rules that we must play.
“Like I said in the end of the day it’s a Pirates-Chiefs, 12 o’clock semi-final, so it’s going to be an intense game anyway.”
#AD: Choose any unlimited 4G or 5G plan. Only start paying next month.
Riveiro also dismissed the notion that Saturday’s game might have more of a friendly character after fans selected their favourite starting XIs.
“Did they ever play a friendly game, Chiefs and Pirates? I don’t think so,” he responded.
“It’s a competition, it’s not a friendly game and we’re going to take the game seriously and trying to be competitive.
“I can tell you we don’t enter any game thinking what’s going to happen if we lose. We don’t think about this. We think about enjoying the day, compete and doing everything in order to win.
“We don’t think about losing. If we lose, we lose. We don’t play in the final and move on.”
