Royal Leopards vs Orlando Pirates Preview: Kick-off time, TV channel, squad news
Orlando Pirates are out to recover from last weekend’s defeat by Al-Ittihad when they come up against Royal Leopards in a Caf Confederation Cup Group B match at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.
The Soweto giants are fresh from the 3-2 defeat in Libya but still lead Group B and would want to maintain pole position although Leopards and second-placed Al-Ittihad have a game in hand each.
Sunday’s match sees Pirates continuing with their bid to claim their first piece of continental silverware since 1996 when they won the Caf Super Cup.
They would be trying to avoid dropping points and enhance their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
Despite their opponents Leopards playing in the Confederation Cup group stage for the first time, they still remain a big threat to Pirates after performing some giant-killing acts on the way to this phase of the competition.
| Game | Royal Leopards vs Orlando Pirates |
| Date | Sunday, February 27 |
| Time | 21:00 SA Time |
TV Channel, Live Score & How To Watch
| Online Streaming | TV Channel |
|---|---|
| DStv.com/DStv Now App | SuperSport TV's PSL channel 202 |
Squads & Team News
No Royal Leopards player is suspended for this match and coach Edwin Matsebula has something encouraging ahead of the Pirates match.
They arrived in Mbombela with forward Andy Junior Magagula, who has scored six goals in continental competitions so far this season.
Former Pretoria University striker Thabiso Mokenkoane is also part of the Leopards squad.
Pirates have confirmed their selection base in their squad is close to 100 percent available.
Only attacker Vincent Pule and goalkeeper Rochard Ofori are not fit for this match.
But they have started training with the rest of the team and are edging closer to full fitness.
Match Preview
This will be the first time for Pirates and Leopards to meet in this competition.
While a lot is known about the Buccaneers, their opponents are a bit of a closed book except for some upsets they have caused in Africa in recent years.
The little known about them include defeating Bidvest Wits, AS Vita and Petro Atletico in the Confederation Cup a few years ago.
This season, they started their African campaign in the Champions League, before being relegated to the Confederation Cup.
In the Champions League, they eliminated Zesco United, before Sagrada Esperanca knocked them out.
They then reached the Confederation Cup group phase after knocking out Algerian giants JS Kabylie who were runners-up in this competition last season.
Leopards and Pirates both go into Sunday’s match on the backdrop of defeats in their last continental assignments, with the Eswatini team having lost 2-0 to JS Saoura seven days ago.