Riveiro not worried about recovery ahead of hosting Stellies on Sunday

If you're an Orlando Pirates fan and worried about the club's recovery after their successful trip to Algiers in Algeria on Tuesday, worry not.

Bucs got a remarkable 2-1 victory over CR Belouizdad in their first Group C match in the Caf Champions League on Tuesday but now face a mammoth task of keeping their winning record intact in the Betway Premiership with Stellenbosch FC visiting Orlando Stadium on Sunday.

Pirates have registered a 100% record in the league, winning all of their first seven opening matches, which is a new club record in the league in the PSL era. 

Asked if he's worried about the effects of rigorous travelling to North Africa which saw Pirates only arriving back home late on Thursday, coach Jose Riveiro said there's nothing that can boost or speed up his charges' recovery process more than winning the last match.

“There's nothing like winning, nothing,” said the Pirates coach.

“There's no better recovery process, sleeping tablets or whatever cannot make you ready for the next one more than winning the previous one. There's nothing more than winning the previous one in terms of building confidence and freshness for the group.

“Getting a positive result, especially away from home, is always important. That's the final product of everything we do every day. We're doing everything that we do to get a good result.

“Obviously, we're more than happy with the last performance but again it's now gone. We must now look at the next one which starts at 0-0.”

Riveiro said Stellenbosch is a team capable of asking them tougher questions and will be confident of upsetting them after being the only team other than champions Mamelodi Sundowns to beat them twice last season.

“They're a competitive side,” said Riveiro of Stellenbosch who lost 2-0 in Bamako, Mali, to Stade Mallien in their first group match in the Caf Confederation Cup.

“It's not by chance how good they're as a collective. They lost important names in the starting XI in their squad but they're still competing at a very high level. They have the capacity to perform in many scenarios.

“They were able to play two finals in a row in the last year. It speaks very well about the kind of team we're going to face. They have been giving us problems in most recent times — even here in Orlando after 70 minutes we were leading 2-0 and we ended up losing the match 2-3.

“It speaks very well about the kind of team we're going to face. A lot of credit should go to them on the kind of results they're getting. It's a team with a capacity to create problems in set pieces.”