Al Ittihad Tripoli vs Orlando Pirates: Libyan Champions Look To Bury the Buccaneers in the Confederation Cup

• Al Ittihad Tripoli open the Confederation Cup campaign when they welcome Orlando Pirates to Libya
• Orlando Pirates come into the game on the back of a win in their opening game against JS Saoura of Algeria
• Al Ittihad Tripoli has warned Orlando Pirates that they had crossed the desert to get there but had arrived at their cemetery

Al Ittihad Tripoli is gearing up to face South Africa’s Orlando Pirates, but Libya’s footballing champions aren’t planning to go easy on the Buccaneers.

Al Ittihad as they are more commonly known as has won the Libyan Premier League 17 times, a record in the country.

Orlando Pirates go into the encounter having won their opening game against JS Saoura in the Confederation Cup. Al Ittihad are yet to play. Their opening game against Royal Leopards was postponed to March.

The Libyan outfit isn’t phased by the Pirates’ winning start though and has fired a warning shot to the Buccaneers. In a pre-match post on their Instagram page, Al Ittihad warned that Pirates had crossed the desert but arrived in the cemetery.

Rough CAF Champions League start for Mamelodi Sundowns as club is forced to relocate venue to the North West

Football

Pirates co-coach, Fadlu Davids, said that the club was expecting a much tougher challenge than their opening game, where they beat JS Saoura 2-0, The Sowetan noted.

Al Ittihad will host Pirates in Benghazi and not their home stadium in Tripoli. The club’s stadium was damaged in the country’s civil war, Times LIVE reported.

David’s added that while they were coming up a tough opponent, they were at least familiar with the venue, having played Al Ahly Benghazi there last season.

CAF Confederations Cup: Orlando Pirates opens campaign with a crucial win over JS Saoura

Orlando Pirates got their CAF Confederation Cup group stage campaign to a winning start as they beat JS Saoura of Algeria 2-0 in their opening Group B clash played at Orlando Stadium on Sunday night.

Seven days after the Soweto Giants’ return to the field of play, they were tasked with overcoming the Algerians, who came into the encounter on the back of a five-game unbeaten streak, Sports Brief reported.

As reported on orlandopirates.com, the game got off to a flyer as Bucs keeper Siyabonga Mpontshane was called upon 37 seconds after kick-off, and was perfectly positioned to hang on to a shot from Aimen Lahmri which was struck from close range.