Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro remains upbeat about the Buccaneers’ chances of being crowned the Betway Premiership champions despite suffering a humiliating 4-1 defeat to log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Stadium on Saturday.

The Soweto giants were unable to thwart a Lucas Ribeiro Costa brace, Teboho Mokoena’s stunner from range, and Grant Kekana’s opener close to the quarter mark of the match. Bucs are now nine points behind the Tshwane powerhouse.

However, Riveiro says he is already thinking about defending the Nedbank Cup title ahead of their last-16 encounter against Motsepe Foundation Championship side Baroka FC, who claimed the Telkom Knockout trophy at the expense of Pirates in 2018 under the tutelage of Milutin ‘micho’ Sredojevic.

“I’m still emotional about this [defeat], but I’m already thinking about who’s going to play against Baroka [In the Nedbank Cup]. We managed to save KB [Kabelo Dlamini], thinking about [Baroka game]. I have been around for a long time [to know these things], trust me,” said the Spanish mentor.

While they lost a match that could prove crucial to the title race, the 49-year-old tactician hailed his charges for the display they showed against Sundowns, highlighting that his side had a difficult week in the build-up to the game in the capital city.

“A bad week, if you think about this week, we played Kaizer Chiefs, we were about to draw let’s be honest, 90-something minutes – a penalty we got the three points,” Riveiro, who is in the final four months of his three-year contract added.

“We played Sekhukhune United away and we never beat Sekhukhune during my time at Pirates, we managed to get another three points. Now, we are here with Sundowns. We were competing as hell, the way we ran on the field was second to none despite the 4-1.”

The Pirates coach retains positivity, drawing inspiration from the fact that they already clinched their first trophy of the ongoing campaign. The Sea Robbers defeated Stellenbosch to clinch a third consecutive MTN8 trophy in October last year – becoming the first team in the SA top flight to achieve the feat.

“So, if I have a look again at the week, I’m extremely positive. The way we are doing things, we are competing in every competition – we have a title already in our cabinet this season. The difference in points now this season with 16 games to play and the way that we are playing is not the problem.

“My problem is Baroka and the teams that are coming. As I said, the end of the season is the [right] time to analyze who’s winning the title and other contenders, how good they were, and how close they were – I’m not going to make this game like a final, now I’m in the losing side but it’s three points.”