Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has reacted to the defeat by rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday, describing the game as “ugly”.
Pirates suffered a 2-1 loss to Amakhosi at a packed Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. The win saw Chiefs lift their first trophy in nine years.
Chiefs scored via a penalty by Gaston Sirino and a late strike by captain Yusuf Maart. The Buccaneers netted through Bafana Bafana striker Evidence Mokgopa.
It was the last cup final for Riveiro, who is set to depart the club at the end of the season. He has won the two previous Nedbank Cups with the Buccaneers.
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“An ugly game, very ugly from the beginning until the end. Not so much football,” Riveiro told SuperSport TV.
“Not too much quality today. Tough beginning of the game again. One penalty and they got the lead and we managed to come back. I think we were better for the rest of the second-half. Too little football in the second-half.
“A lot of interruptions and a lot of fouls. There was a moment for five or 10 minutes when Chiefs were better than us. They managed to get the lead and we tried in the end, but we couldn’t today.”
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“Our sixth final together but we can’t win all of them. Congratulations to the club, and to the players as well for their efforts in the competition. Today is a hard day but we will be back.
“It’s not easy. Today we wouldn’t [succeed]. I am not going to analyse the reasons why. I know why, but we couldn’t find the spaces that we were looking for in the build-up. Yeah, that’s it.”
Both Chiefs and Pirates will now shift focus to the Betway Premiership which resumes next weekend.
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