Pirates vow not to underestimate Lioli as CAF Champions League campaign kicks off

Pirates face Lioli FC of Lesotho in a first-round preliminary, first-leg clash at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein (15:00). 

This is Lioli’s home match, but it’s being staged in South Africa since Lesotho does not have CAF-approved venues. 

Ouaddou is no stranger to this competition, having previously coached AS Vita in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and insists that Pirates will not underestimate their opponents.

"First of all, we cannot say that it's a team that we don't know and nobody knows, I think it's not good to say that. As long as the team qualified for the Champions League and they won the league in their country, we have to give a lot of respect but for us it's an important game, very, very important game,” Ouaddou said.

“We take it very seriously, we have prepared for that, my boys, my players are aware of that. We take it very and strongly seriously, it's a team that we have information and that we have studied, we know their weaknesses, we know their strengths and definitely we are going to play that game with a lot of ambition."

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The Moroccan tactician has a personal connection to Bloemfontein too, having been briefly based there while in charge of Marumo Gallants, and hopes the football-mad community of City of Roses will rally behind him and his team.

"I was really happy to come back here to that city because it's where I started working in South Africa and I love it. I love people from that city, very friendly people. I don't forget them but of course everywhere where we go to play in South Africa there's a lot of Pirates fans, it's enjoyable for us,” the coach added. 

“We are happy to see such fantastic people and we are expecting a lot of people to help us and to be the 12th man in the stadium because my players need the fans. “They need their fans, they need to feel the fans close to them, we know that when they pack the stadium and when they support them, when they are singing, we are stronger."