Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has a huge task and challenge to break an 11-year club hodoo in the CAF Champions League.
Riveiro has revived Pirates to be a competitive team again, firstly winning all the domestic trophies on offer since his appointment in 2022, with the exception of the Carling Knockout last month.
The Spanish coach, in his third season, has kept the Buccaneers in the title race going into the new year and qualified the club to the CAF Champions League group stages for the first time since the 2018/19 season.
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Lying second in Group C in the current campaign, the 47-year-old coach has a chance to rewrite history as the Soweto giants did not get out of the group the last time they were at this stage five years ago.
Before reaching the group stages in the 2018/19 campaign, Pirates had another five-year absence in Africa's premier club competition.
In fact, The Ghosts have not reached the knockout stages of the CAF Champions League since 2013, in the old format that only included eight teams in the group stages.
During that campaign, Pirates finished second in the group behind Al Ahly and were paired against Esperance de Tunis in the semi-finals.
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The Buccaneers edged Esperance on away goals after a 1-1 draw on aggregate and reached the final.
However, Ezimnyama lost 3-1 to Al Ahly on aggregate in the final.
Should Pirates reached the Knockout stages in the current season, it will be the first time they do so in the current format of 16 teams in the group stages.