Cape Town City will need to achieve something unprecedented if they hope to defeat Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium in the MTN8 second leg semifinal on Saturday afternoon.

Pirates hold a slight advantage after scoring through Relebohile Mofokeng in the first leg at DHL Stadium on Wednesday. However, Eric Tinkler’s side improved in the second half, equalizing through Jaedin Rhodes.

Pirates are formidable at Orlando Stadium, particularly in cup competitions. They have won the MTN8 twice in the past two seasons under Jose Riveiro. Despite their recent success, Pirates captain Innocent Maela has urged his teammates to remain focused and respect their opponents.

“We are not going into the match thinking we are underdogs or they are underdogs,” said Maela at the press conference on Friday.

“Like the coach has already said, we give full credit to our opponents, because they had a good season (last term) and that is why they are competing in this tournament and that is why they are in the semifinal, with the second leg with the chance of playing in the final. 

“So, we respect our opponent and we also respect ourselves. But we are not going to the match thinking of those titles (favourite because we scored away and being the winners of this title two seasons in a row), we just have to focus on our match, focus on the game plan and make sure we go out there and execute.”

In ten visits to Orlando Stadium, City has lost six and drawn four.