CAF Champions League: Ouaddou wary of Lioli threat – Pirates have to give them a lot of respect

Orlando Pirates will be playing Lesotho champions Lioli on Saturday in the first preliminary round of the CAF Champions League at the Free State Stadium.

The Sea Robbers reached the semi-final in the 2024/25 edition before falling 3-2 in aggregate to eventual champions Pyramids. It explains why they come into this weekend's game as favourites.

Nevertheless, coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has played down suggestions that the newly crowned MTN8 champions will walk past their opponents.

He argues this is a competition where every team is strong and that their is no room to underrate them.

The former Morocco international insists Bucs must respect their opponent and ensure they have delivered.

We take Lioli seriously

“First of all, we can’t say it’s a team we don’t know and nobody knows it, I think it’s not good to say that,” Ouaddou said in a pre-match interview.

“As long as the team qualifies for the Champions League and they won the league in their country, we have to give them a lot of respect. But for us, it’s an important game, very, very important game. We take it seriously and we are 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 of and we studied. We know their weaknesses and strengths and definitely, we are going to play that with a lot of ambitions.”