Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro admits the most important thing is they are in the MTN8 final for the second consecutive season.

Despite suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to Stellenbosch FC in the semi-final second leg, Pirates secured a 2-2 aggregate draw to advance.

The Buccaneers will now have the opportunity to defend their title when they take on Mamelodi Sundowns in the last two of the competition.

Riveiro was not happy with his team’s performance on the day but is delighted to be in another final.

“We are in the final, that’s the most important thing,” Riveiro told SuperSport TV after the game.

“Orlando Pirates are in the MTN8 final one more time. We’re gonna prepare ourselves as good as possible for that day, 7th of October, to fight again for one more, and happy for the fact that we are.”

He added: “If we go to the simple way we can say you that we didn’t play well.

“The opponent was better. We lost, it’s a fact. We lost 1-0. We should have never lose this game in my opinion. It was mostly under control. It’s not easy to explain that we didn’t score in the last three games.

“That’s why we until the end, being a bit scared of the result because one goal even though there were no chances to do it, but you know, this is football and one stupid mistake can cost one goal and that goal cost the final.

“So it was a difficult game to play. Stellenbosch, like I said many times, even though they are losing players, is an excellent team, very physical. They can complicate the day to anybody in the league like they did it several times already. And today was not an exception.

“I think we can speak well about Stellenbosch without speaking bad about Orlando Pirates today.”

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