Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has discussed his side’s approach for the Nedbank Cup final against their bitter rivals Kaizer Chiefs this upcoming weekend.
The two sides will lock horns on Saturday, 10 May at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, in what will be their first meeting in the cup final since 2014.
The last Soweto Derby cup final took place at the same venue in KZN, with Chiefs winning that match 1-0 under the guidance of Stuart Baxter to lift the MTN8 trophy.
Pirates recently completed the league double over Amakhosi with a 1-0 victory when the two Soweto giants met in the Betway Premiership last Saturday, a result they bring into their upcoming cup final clash.
Riveiro says, despite the significance of this match, they will approach it with the same mindset as the other finals they have won during his tenure since joining Pirates in 2022.
He stated that their intention is to make the opponents look “bad” on the day, while acknowledging that the match would be tough.
RIVEIRO ON PIRATES’ APPROACH FOR UPCOMING NEDBANK CUP FINAL
“It’s a pleasure and honour to be here, one more time, in the final representing Orlando Pirates,” said Riveiro during the club’s media open day on Thursday in Durban.
“It’s what we have been looking for since day one, when we started together. We worked hard enough to find ourselves regularly in almost every final since we started.
“It’s something to celebrate one more time. We don’t want to play the occasion; we want to focus on the game plan and focus on the way that we can beat Chiefs, and also they can beat us, so that we can avoid it [being beaten by Chiefs].
“We’re going to try to make the Chiefs play badly. That’s the intention on the day.
“We’ve done it already several times together, and we want to make sure that we are there again.”
RELATED STORY: Outgoing Riveiro makes promise to Pirates fans about incoming coach