It's a new dawn for Orlando Pirates, exclaims Innocent Maela

The Buccaneers are preparing for a CAF Champions League semi-final with Egyptian side Pyramids at the weekend.

The Betway Premiership club have won a raft of trophies over the past few seasons under head coach Jose Riveiro and are now well placed to emulate previous generations.

Pirates have won the CAF Champions League once, back in 1995, and were runners-up in 2013.

Speaking ahead of the weekend's game, the Bucs captain explained that the current team want to make their own history.

He said in the Citizen: "It's a bit unfair to compare different generations. We are a team that believes we're more than capable of winning.

"The togetherness and humbleness have brought us so far and those are the values we keep within the team. It's a new squad, a new dawn, and as long as we believe anything is possible."

Pirates are also in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup and are second in the league, behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

Pirates will, meanwhile, lose Riveiro at the end of the season after he decided not to extend his contract, and Maela explained that his side are fully focused on their next match with so many distractions.

He added: "We've had our meetings and discussions as players and we agreed it's time for us to put our attention on the competitions that we are competing in.

“We believe the time will come later on for all those moments [to celebrate Riveiro]...for now, from the players' side, we need to put all our focus on applying ourselves perfectly in all the remaining games.”