In the league on Friday night, Polokwane City and the Pirates tied 1-1 at Orlando Stadium. Mashikinya’s late goal for the Limpopo team overturned Patrick Maswanganyi’s goal.

Riveiro’s pre-match remarks that they might still catch up to log leaders and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns were completely derided by the appalling outcome.

With one game remaining, the Pirates sit fifteen points behind the Brazilians, who are the favorites to win a record-tying seventh straight championship.

Riveiro, a ferocious presence on the touchline after his team had lost three straight league games, boldly said that they were hoping to win the title after the Polokwane match.

When asked if his team would still contend for the championship this year, the Spaniard said, “No!”

Riveiro isn’t worried about points right now since he has seen firsthand how difficult it is for his team to win consecutive games in the league. Rather, he thinks that the main cause of their issues is scoring.

Do the points worry you in any way? I don’t need to worry about the points. A figure, or something abstract. Therefore, I shouldn’t worry,” Riveiro shot back.

“The tasks we have to complete this week and the fact that we’re struggling could worry me. The goals are not as clear-cut or frequent as we would like them to be.

That is a disadvantage in a football-like game. I’m not thinking about difficulties because I’m preoccupied. We have to make sure that the hurdles we face in games are fresh and never the same.

The primary problem for the Pirates early in the season was not a shortage of goals, as Zakhele Lepasa scored 10 goals in his first eight games.