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Preserving their run of form is uppermost in Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro's mind as his team approach a potentially absorbing Nedbank Cup semifinal against Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on May 6.
The Spaniard has already steered Bucs to the MTN8 title in his maiden season in South Africa, and his side stand a good chance of finishing second in the DStv Premiership after their 2-1 win over Cape Town City at Orlando Stadium on Saturday. The league winners' runners-up compete in next season's Caf Champions League.
Saturday's win was the fifth on the spin in the Premiership for Bucs, who are in third place on 46 points from 26 games. Second-placed SuperSport United have a point more, but have also played one more game.
“The challenge is nice,” Riveiro said of what seem to be a promising prospect for Pirates in the final straight of the 2022-23 campaign.
“I want to find myself in this moment of the season fighting for important things with the possibility of getting more titles for this club. We embrace the moment and we want to stay in this moment as much as possible.
“The key is what the players want. They [show hunger] every day and are making my life difficult to select the XI because we have many players ready to perform. We're very lucky we have a lot options every week to design and execute our game plan before and during the game, like we did [against City].
“If I didn't have the level of players I have on the bench, probably it wouldn't matter how good my ideas were as coach. We have excellent players in every position and it is good they come in and make an impact.
“That's the way we want to continue as a group. We want to achieve something together and that motivation will push us until the end.
“We cannot guarantee we're going to get the result every week, but it's a fact and it's clear that we're going to fight until the end to get what we want.”
Pirates face TS Galaxy next on Sunday while City visit Royal AM in Durban on Saturday.
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