Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro opens up on the 'pain' of losing out on the DStv premiership title to Mamelodi Sundowns as the Buccaneers prepare for a chance to lift their second trophy this season in the Nedbank Cup final.
Riveiro's charges managed to dethrone Sundowns in the MTN8 but could only finish second in the Premiership, 16 points behind the Brazilians.
Although Pirates now have a chance to secure their second trophy of the season, midfielder Miguel Timm said on Tuesday that lifting the Nedbank Cup would not offer any consolation for finishing second.
READ | 'We have the capacity to do more' - Pirates out to derail runaway Sundowns
Speaking ahead of Saturday' final against Sekhukhune, Riveiro has backed Timm's sentiments and opened up on the 'pain' of failing to challenge Sundowns for the league title.
"Can you imagine how competitive we are, that we can finish the season with two trophies and we are still not satisfied? and it's the truth," Riveiro told journalists on Thursday.
"That's something that we accept and we will try and correct, and understand what happened in that competition that we didn't have the opportunity to fight until the end.
"At the same time, we have to be proud of what we did, especially in 2023 in the last 12 of 14 games, I'm not sure how many, but we managed again to be consistent in the tournament, to be one of the best teams in terms of performances.
"I think we were the best in terms of results, but also the performances were good. So, we look for the future more optimism.
"But that's the pain, that we couldn't fight until the end. Our purpose was to fight until the end in the Nedbank Cup, in the MTN8 no matter who [we are up against] and we did it.
"But in the league, we were not consistent, it's a fact. We collected to many bad results in period of the season and that's why we could fight and that's the pain that Miguel [Timm] expressed. It's there in the locker room and we take it seriously and we will try to do better next time.
The final will be played at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Kick-off is at 18:00.
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