Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has revealed why Patrick Maswanganyi was unavailable in their goalless draw against Al Ahly at Orlando Stadium on Saturday. 

However, Riveiro raised eyebrows as he was without Maswanganyi in this game and was not available even in the matchday squad. 

This was the second time Maswanganyi was not available in the matchday squad for the Buccaneers as he missed their Betway Premiership match against TS Galaxy in October. 

After the game on Saturday, The Spanish tactician revealed why Maswanganyi was unavailable, but refused to give the full information about his absence. 

“For reasons that I cannot speak about, today he was not available for selection,” Riveiro said. 

“Like I said many times, I don’t feel that I have the right to speak about anybody’s health, but only maybe about mine. 

“He was not available for selection to the 20 [man-squad], and I don’t think we have any reasons to… I don’t know how to say it without giving you a headline. After this performance to be sitting here talking about one player that I didn’t play is a little bit disappointing for me. 

“We have to talk about the game that Monnapule [Saleng], Rele [Relebohile Mofokeng], and,[Mohau] Nkota played. They did a fantastic job, it was an excellent match. Just to answer your question, he was not available for selection.” 

Meanwhile, Riveiro also admitted that the Buccaneers didn’t play their normal football because Al Ahly is a good team but in other games, they will play well. 

“We were playing against a good team, they are not who they are just because of the name, the resources are there,” Riveiro added. 

“I don’t know how much you understand what happened today in the game, but they couldn’t do more. Credit to the Pirates players, the level of concentration at the back was something else. 

“When you play against teams like this you must accept that there are moments that they are going to dominate you. 

 “I think we got 55% of possession in the 90 minutes, usually we are around 60 something, sometimes close to 70% especially when we play in Orlando. 

“We have to accept that things like this are going to happen, forcing us to play the way we don’t like. We want every time to be on the ball.” 

Pirates will now face the Ivorian giant Stade d’Abidjan in Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Ivory Coast on Saturday.