Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has detailed the special relationship he shares with outgoing assistant coach Sergio Almenara.
Pirates caused quite a stir when they announced barely a day after winning the Nedbank Cup title that the Spaniard will be vacating his post as the club's assistant, citing family reasons for his departure.
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His exit will come as a blow to Pirates where he has played an integral role in the club winning four trophies in two seasons.
The man with whom Almenara has spent the last five years has credited Almenara for his forward-thinking and reveals how difficult it will be to replace him.
"Sergio is a very special person in my career [and] in my life. We spent a lot of time in the last 5 years together. First in Finland now in South Africa. Obviously we're humans. Our lives are permanently changing in this case, it's a positive change. He has a family. He has some responsibilities that he needs to attend [to]. He needs to be there and you cannot be in two places at the same time, and I think that right now Sergio must be in the place where he's gonna be. I think it's the right decision," he told SuperSport in part.
"But this is a football world and hopefully in the future we have the opportunity to work together because we have a really good relationship. He was a very important piece in my career, in my development as a coach as I think we both learn a lot from each other and that learning process will continue because we will keep in touch.
"It's gonna be difficult (for a) person to replace him in the coaching staff. But life goes on and you know we continue, Pirates cannot stop. And we will find a way to continue in a good way.
"We met in Helsinki, I think it was in 2017. We had different roles there in Finland. Two guys from Spain in the north of Europe, so we started to create a relationship and the moment that I got the opportunity to be a head coach there, he was the the first option for me to integrate in our staff and from that day, the histories are multiple.
"We had the opportunity in our first season together, we were about to win the league there. We were one game away from doing it then we had also the opportunity to be cup champions. We lost the final. We had three beautiful seasons there together. But not achieving what we really were looking for. We have the opportunity now here in South Africa where we managed to win titles together and within those competitions that we have the opportunity to fight for together. You can imagine the good days, bad days, discussions, because we are both quite special as well, stubborn sometimes with different visions, always understanding that we are looking for the same thing, which is winning and always trying to, you know, make sure that we enrich each other in the football game.
"He is an exceptional human being and (I am) just wishing him all the best in the future," he said.
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