‘Imagine if we do it’: Riveiro as Pirates eye beating Stade after draw against Ahly

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro's was reluctantly pressed into thinking about their next assignment in the Caf Champions League after an epic 0-0 battle against 12-time winners Al Ahly at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

The Spaniard wanted more time to savour the hard-earned point against the continent's most successful club. But he did allow himself to speculate on how enticing the prospect of leading Group C by the end of next weekend would be for the Buccaneers.

The reality is Bucs can put themselves in a strong position to reach the quarterfinals if they inflict a third straight defeat on Stade d'Abidjan in Ivory Coast on Saturday.

Bucs and Ahly share top spot on four points after their entertaining draw watched by a sold-out crowd in Orlando on Saturday.

While Ahly will only host Belouizdad on December 22 as they will be involved in the Fifa Intercontinental Cup (a new tournament played with the old format of the now-expanded Club World Cup) from Saturday, Pirates can race through to the top of Group C if they avoid defeat in Abidjan.

“I'm so tired after this [Ahly] match and you're making me think about next one,” Riveiro quipped after Saturday's energy-sapping draw against Ahly.

“It's an away game and I think they [Stade] played today and they didn't get a good result in the first game in Cairo. But you see the type of team they are — we managed to see that they've got multiple ways of playing.

“They're quite rich tactically and for sure an away game is going to be tough, it is going to be difficult. But I'm optimistic and I'm looking at the fixture as an opportunity to try to fight for the three points. 

“Imagine if we do it. To find ourselves in the third game of the group stage with those points [seven].

“It would be nice, but we know we have to work so hard to make it possible, do what we did in Algeria [beating Belouizdad 2-1] and like we did it today [drawing against Ahly]. There's everything to be played for in the group.”

Neither team could score in a tactical encounter at Orlando on Saturday, though the result will come as another boost to Pirates' confidence in their first group stage campaign since 2018-19.