Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela has shed light on how the Bucs camp dealt with the shocking announcement of Jose Riveiro’s departure from the club at the end of the season, ending a trophy-laden stay.

The Soweto giants announced last week Thursday that the Spanish mentor, who joined the club in June 2022, will be stepping down from his position after deciding against renewing his contract, which is set to expire at the end of the current campaign.

During his stay, Riveiro turned Pirates into modern-day cup kings, clinching three consecutive MTN8 titles – a historic feat in PSL history. In addition, the 49-year-old tactician guided the team to back-to-back Nedbank Cup trophies, and they are currently in the semi-finals of the competition this term.

With the Spaniard’s departure slowly becoming imminent with each passing day, the skipper revealed how the rest of the team coped with the news, stating that they all agreed to focus on finishing the season strong in the competitions they are still in contention for.

“We had our meetings and discussions, and we all agreed that it’s time for us to put our focus and attention on the competitions that we still need to compete in. We believe the time will come later on for all those moments,” said Maela.

“But for now, from the players’ side, we obviously need to focus and put all our attentions on applying ourselves perfectly with the game plan that we will have, starting on Thursday with the game here at Orlando [vs MC Alger].

“I believe the moment and time will come for us to focus on that, but for now, it’s important for us to train well and make sure that we apply ourselves in games.”

Meanwhile, the Bucs’ mentor shares the same sentiments with his squad as he insists his departure is not something of grave importance at the moment, with games coming thick and fast with the back end of the season fast approaching.

“We are good professionals, good enough to differentiate what it takes to be in a position like ours. I think we all understand our roles, responsibilities, and what is the most important thing. All of those things [my departure] are not important right now, maybe in the future,” Riveiro stated.

“There’s going to be a time to talk about it. We spoke about this one week ago to not be talking about this right now and just be focusing on the important things for this club, which is on Wednesday [vs MC Alger] to do our best.

“We have to give everything and make sure we have the right, and we deserve to be in the semi-finals, and we deserve it more than our opponents. It’s a good opponent, you will see, the level of MC Alger on the field, and we will try to minimize their capacity to play, and that’s the only thing in our minds – we can’t think about what’s going to happen in the future right now.” 

The Sea Robbers will be looking to reach the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League for the first time since the 2012/13 season when they lock horns with MC Alger for the second leg of their quarterfinals clash at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday (18:00) with a slender 1-0 aggregate lead.