RS Berkane head coach Florent Ibenge has praised Orlando Pirates and admitted it would have been hard for him to lose a third CAF inter-club final.
Ibenge secured his first continental trophy in Africa with Berkane in his first season in charge, this after losing the CAF Champions League in 2015 and the Confederation Cup in 2018.
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However, he managed to get one over the line as the Botola Pro side beat Pirates 5-4 on penalties in Uyo, Nigeria on Friday evening after the game finished 1-1 after extra-time.
“I lost two finals before, one against Setif, one against Raja, with Vita Club and it would have been really hard for me to lose another one,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“So I’m proud for the club, for the team for my staff, for family, Morocco and Congolese people because they are watching me today and I think they are really happy for all three.”
The Congolese mentor went on to admit that Pirates were perhaps the better team on the day but hinted that they were prepared to suffer and take the game to penalties as they prepared thoroughly for the scenario.
“They have good players, really play fast forward and they controlled the game as you said. But we were more combative and we changed a little bit because in the first half we let them play as they want at half-time I changed it and put more pressure in midfield,” Ibenge added.
“We made another block… we gave them less space and we know that we can [create] a lot of chances in corners and it’s what we do, we got a penalty… after that, I can say Pirates were really good today but we have a good mentality to win this game because we worked on penalties and we came here to play to the last whistle of the referee. So we were really concentrated on that and we won it.”
Berkane, who have now won two Confederation Cup titles in three seasons will face either Al Ahly or Wydad Atheltic Club in the CAF Super Cup final.
