Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas is hoping to have his stars Khama Billiat and Leonardo Castro ready for the ‘special game’ against Orlando Pirates.

The Amakhosi were without Castro, Billiat, Lebogang Manyama, Dumisani Zuma, Siyabonga Ngezana and Daniel Cardoso as they edged Black Leopard on penalties, after a 1-1 draw was not enough to separate the two sides in normal time.

After scraping through to the quarter-finals, the Glamour Boys will now turn their attention to the Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates at the FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking after the game to SuperSport, Solinas admitted that the uniqueness of the Soweto derby is not lost on him and that he hopes to have his stars fit for it.

‘The derby is a special game. It is a special game for the coaches, it’s a special game for the players and it’s a special game for the supporters.

‘So now from tomorrow [Monday], we start the preparation for the derby because we are Kaizer Chiefs and we need to respect our supporters.

‘It is a very difficult game because Pirates are very good, a very good team, they have a fantastic coach. It’s a tough game but we will fight and try to win the game.

‘We are hoping to recover some key players, because if we recover a player like Khama, Castro, Zuma, Ngezana, for us it could be very important.

‘So we are hoping this bad luck [with injuries] is finished with us,’ concluded the Italian tactician.

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