Head coach Jose Riveiro has labeled his side's failure to progress to the CAF Champions League group stages as 'unacceptable' following a defeat to Jwaneng Galaxy in the second preliminary round.
The Buccaneers' CAF Champions League journey ended prematurely after losing 5-4 on in a penalty shoot-out against Galaxy on Friday night at Orlando Stadium.
READ | Pirates knocked out of Champions League
Having lost the first leg 1-0, Pirates needed to win by at least two goals to advance and were well on track when Evidence Makgopa's deflected shot found the back of the net in the second-half.
However, the Sea Robbers missed a plethora of scoring chances as Jwaneng defended well to push the match to a penalty shoot-out.
Addressing media after the match, a visibly disappointed Riveiro lamented his side's missed chances and admitted that the result was difficult to explain.
"There is not much to decode here about the game. It's a difficult game to explain," Riveiro said.
"From the scoring perspective, I think the guys' performance tonight was more than enough to get a result that can drive us to the group stage. But for reasons that feel difficult to explain in this moment straight after the game, we couldn't make it in the 90 minutes and then in the penalties, well anything can happen.
"This is part of the game as well, it's something that we have to do better, we have to dominate as well and today we couldn't.
?????????????????????? ???????? ??????????!Another chance for Pirates, another miss. Patrick Maswanganyi should have put that away!40 mins goneOrlando Pirates 0-0 Jwaneng Galaxy pic.twitter.com/cIVw7TPgqT
— Sahil Ebrahim (@sahil_e_) September 29, 2023
"We started the game with a one goal disadvantage but I think, I don't know what else we need to do, It's difficult to explain that in the last four games we scored only one goal and the way we did it today, which is like a rebound or ugly goal.
"It's a difficult day, it's not acceptable, our team is built and prepared to go to the Champions league group stage, so we cannot accept these results and only saying that we were unlucky.
"Nobody feels proud in our group about the result and the fact that we are not going to the group stages. We have to accept it, analyse it but at the same time we have to take responsibility, the coach more than anybody else, and we need to do a proper reflection about our participation in this competition because obviously was not good enough.
"Football is a scoring game, it's about goals and they scored one more penalty than us, it's simple. You don't have to complicate it.
"Probably if you check the log we are on top in the whole competition in terms of chances created but we couldn't capitalise on what we create. That's why it's difficult [to explain].
Up next for Orlando Pirates is an MTN8 final against Mamelodi Sundowns to be played on Saturday, 7 October at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
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