Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has reiterated that Thembinkosi Lorch, Vincent Pule and Ben Motshwari are important members of the squad and they will by no means field a ‘weakened’ team against Jwaneng Galaxy.
Pirates face the Botswana Premier League champions on Sunday afternoon at the National Stadium and when speaking ahead of the game, the Spanish coach was asked about the speculation of wholesale changes to the starting line-up.
It’s been suggested that Pirates will look to prioritise their fixture against Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday evening over the 1st leg CAF Champions League 2nd round qualifier.
“Pule and Lorch and Ben, of course, they are [part of our plans], everyone in the squad is part of our plans like I said before, we have 36 players in the squad,” Riveiro said in the pre-match press conference in Botswana.
“Trust me, as a coaching staff we try to look at all of them with the same eyes, same intention, which is… accepting as a coach, there’s a responsibility of having exceptional [players] on our hands.
“We have to [get] the best out of them, it’s our responsibility to help them perform at their best level and then we have to choose. At the end of every week, we have to decide which 11 are going to start and which 20 travel with the team.”
He continued: “We try to be fair, to be right, to make sure Pirates is winning, [They] are three exceptional players, professionals, they were in different stages in different times, going through different periods in terms of form and injuries etc. But they are in our plans, all of them.
“We’re playing an exceptional team, I won’t mention the starting XI now but you will find maybe seven, eight international players in the starting eleven, just to give context to the rumours you mentioned before.
“So… hopefully we have the opportunity to play the players you mentioned because they are all very important to us.”
The winner over the two-legged tie advances to the group stage of Africa’s elite club competition.
