NEWS: ‘We still have a lot of things to do and achieve together’ – coach Jose Riveiro committed to Orlando Pirates despite Sergio Almenara’s departure

On Monday, Pirates confirmed the news of Almenara disembarking the Sea Robbers’ ship by mutual consent.

Almenara had a year remaining on his contract.

The 44-year-old had joined the Buccaneers in 2022 alongside countryman and close ally Riveiro.

Speaking to Radio 2000’s Game On sports show on Monday, Riveiro paid a heartfelt homage to his assistant coach of five years.

The two also worked side-by-side at Inter Turku in Finland’s top tier for three years.

“It’s something I’ve known since maybe about five or six months ago. It belongs to his personal space, the only thing that I can say is he was exceptionally good for the institution during these two years,” Riveiro told host Thabiso Mosia.

“He was a tireless worker every day and (made) massive contributions to all the things that we were achieving together in the past two years and personally, with myself for the last five years.

“We’ve been working together every single day, so you can imagine we are much more than colleagues. We are family.

READ: Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro’s right-hand man Sergio Almenara leaves Soweto giants

“So, it’s difficult for me to imagine my future without Sergio but I totally understand the reasons behind and I’m fully supporting him. Who knows? Maybe in the near future, we will work together again, but right now my time continues here at Pirates.

“We will find solutions, that’s not a problem,” added Riveiro.

While not ruling out the possibility of working with Almenara in the future, the Spanish-born assured he was not leaving the South African giants soon.

“Ja, absolutely. We still have a lot of things to do and achieve together. It’s where our mind is,” said Riveiro.

In the past two seasons, Pirates won four titles and finished as the DStv Premiership runners-up twice.