Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has shrugged off the criticism of Patrick Maswanganyi by club legend Jomo Sono, who claimed comparisons between the two are premature.
Maswanganyi has not been afraid to display his talents to fans with his pace and trickery a delight to watch while he has also showboated on certain occasions, drawing comparisons with Sono, who was known to entertain supporters.
However, the Jomo Cosmos founder claimed all players who are compared to him end up ‘dying,’ adding that “you can’t compare an elephant to an ant.”
But Riveiro is full of praise for the attacking midfielder who has been one of the bright spots for his team in recent seasons.
Riveiro delighted with ‘different animal’ Maswanganyi
“Tito loves to play football. Tito is a different animal when he’s on the field. It’s where he can express himself and show the best of himself,” Riveiro said on Marawa Sports Worldwide.
“When you have players like him, who always want to be on the ball, which for me is something to highlight because it doesn’t matter what happens on the field – if we need a goal, if we need two, we are losing a final, he’s one of the players who always want the ball.
“That’s why sometimes it’s also in the tough side of the game, when we think about he’s losing the ball or he’s not losing the ball, they are kicking him or not, he’s diving or not diving, it’s that kind of stuff, it’s because he always want that responsibility.
Will Tito hit the heights of 2023-24 this season?
“And in that period that you mentioned before [around Jomo’s comments], it was exactly the same, so that makes me feel that he feels the support already without even talking about it.
“But he’s a boy who just wants to be on the field and play football.”
The Pirates No.10 scored 10 goals while providing 12 assists in 40 games across all competitions last season but he is yet to set the stage alight in 2024-25, managing just one goal in 15 matches, but he has the full backing of his coach.
