Pirates mentor Riveiro full of praise for team's defence: It's not easy to create chances against us

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says his team are difficult to score against after beating Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 on Saturday.

Pirates held the reigning MTN8 champions to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their semi-final at home before a resounding away victory.

Kermit Erasmus opened the scoring at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on just eight minutes and Monnapule Saleng, who set up the opening goal, then went on to seal the result with his goals on 83 and 92 minutes.

Speaking after the game, Riveiro explained the impact his defence had on the two-legged encounter.

He said on Times Live: "In these two legs of the game it [the early goal in the second leg] makes things difficult for the opponent and we know that we're very strong in defending.

"It's not very easy to create chances against Pirates nowadays. When we're fully concentrating like [on Saturday] it's a difficult mission for the opponent.

"That goal obviously creates the confidence around the boys to say, 'This is going to be our day.' If we had started in different way, well, you never know, but we just started in a way we dreamt about.

"I can only say good things about our defensive phase. We defend with 11 players when we don’t have the ball.

"That's one of the keys and one of the reasons why we're getting these types of results. It's not a secret."