Pirates coach admits respect for Sundowns ahead of heavyweight bout

by Graeme Jackson

Tuesday Oct 31, 2017. 10:30

Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic has admitted that he has a huge amount of respect for Mamelodi Sundowns and their coach Pitso Mosimane.

The two teams will meet for a high-profile Absa Premiership clash at Orlando Stadium tomorrow night.

The Buccaneers have not enjoyed their recent meetings with ‘Downs, notably suffering a club-record 6-0 defeat against Mosimane’s side back in February.

However, this will be the first time Pirates face up to the Brazilians since ‘Micho’ returned for his second spell at the club.

In addition, ‘Downs come into the game on the back of three successive defeats, including a shock 1-0 loss at Chippa United in the Telkom Knockout this past weekend.

Pirates, for their part, beat Golden Arrows in Durban to advance into the quarterfinals of the competition.

"We are having in front of us match number 10 in the league and we are playing a team that have proven themselves still as reigning African champions," said Sredojevic, as quoted by Kick-Off.

"They are a very good group of individuals that are playing top class football as a team. They have my very good friend of the last 15 years since I came to South Africa Pitso Mosimane, who for me is the Alex Ferguson of South African football as a coach.

"It might look like an extraordinary league match both for us and them, but we are totally concentrated on the game.

"It is one team that has reached the best of their abilities in the last two years against another team that is on the rise – ourselves. We are in the process of rebuilding and the process of proving ourselves.

"We are extremely motivated, respecting our opponents while also having respect for ourselves, our club of 80 years, our supporters and most importantly the funny and unpredictable nature of football.

"We are entering Wednesday's game with intention to measure ourselves, to see how far we have come, to give our best in 90 minutes and look forward to getting the best we can from the match."