Saturday | February 8, 2025

Ribeiro Costa displayed a man-of-the-match performance, topping it up with a brace in the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club’s 4-1 demolition task against Orlando Pirates FC in the Betway Premiership tie at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday Afternoon.

Vying for the 2024/2025 title, both teams swaggered into the pitch and saluted their fans packed the stadium to the rafters.

Sundowns had an upper hand from the first whistle teasing out the Pirates goalkeeper Sipho Chaine. Just 13 minutes in the first half, Grant Kekana volleyed a cross into the back of the to give the home side a head start.

The epic duel opened up even more. Sundowns got the second from a solo run by Lucas Ribeiro in the 27th minute. Pirates were 2-0 down and needed to step up.

Indeed, Deon Hotto answered the call in the 57th minute, thanks to a deflection of his shot which got Ronwen Williams’ arms flailing to no success. That goal brought the scores to 2-1 and the Buccaneers [Pirates] were back in contention for the afternoon.

But the Brazilians [Sundowns] had other ideas. Two minutes right at the back of Hotto’s strike, Ribeiro had the better of Chaine to register his second – brace – for the game.

At 3-1, Sundowns were in the driver’s seat. Even so, they were not done yet.Teboho Mokoena pulled a thunderbolt to add rubbed into the Pirates gaping wound in the 78th minute to put the classic encounter to bed.

Now with the scoreboard reading 4-1, Pirates were effectively flattened and absolutely out.This victory by the Brazilians took their league tally to 42 points, opening a 9-point gap at the summit of the Betway Premiership.

However, the Buccaneers still have a game in hand and they will chase until the end. For Mamelodi Sundowns though, the league title defense is truly with touch.

But there are still 15 more games for them to see off which is a long way before the defense is confirmed and honours secured.

As per the nature of the beautiful, Orlando Pirates will not lay low and watch the league escape their clutches; they will throw a massive fight. Until then, the jury is still out on who the new league winners will be in this new season.

Saturday, Feb. 8 Betway Premiership Results:

Magesi FC 2-0 Cape Town City FC

Richards Bay United FC 2-0 Polokwane City FC

TS Galaxy FC 1-0 Chippa United FC

Sunday, Feb. 9 Betway Premiership Fixtures:

Golden Arrows FC vs Royal AM- Postponed

Sekhukhune United FC vs SuperSport United FC at Old Peter Mokaba (Polokwane) – 15h30

Friday, Feb. 7 Betway Premiership Results:

Stellenbosch FC 0-1 Kaizer Chiefs FC