Orlando Pirates continued their pre-season tour of Spain by playing out a goalless draw against La Liga side Las Palmas at the Estadio Municipal Antonio Lorenzo Cuevas.
This result marks another valuable step in the Buccaneers’ preparations for the upcoming Betway Premiership season.
The Spanish tour has been a mixed bag of results for the Soweto giants so far. They kicked off with a 2-0 defeat to English Championship side Bolton Wanderers, followed by a 1-1 draw against Cypriot outfit Pafos FC.
Their final friendly is scheduled for later today against another Spanish top-flight team, Granada.
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Both Pirates and Las Palmas opted for much-changed starting line-ups, providing an opportunity for various squad members to gain valuable match fitness.
The Buccaneers began the brighter of the two sides, with striker Tshegofatso Mabasa nearly finding an early opener from a corner, his header glancing just wide.
Pirates’ goalkeeper Siyabonga Dladla was called into action soon after, making a crucial save to deny a swift Las Palmas counter-attack.
The Buccaneers continued to press, with Kabelo Dlamini rattling the crossbar from a superb free-kick, and Las Palmas’ goalkeeper Dinko Horkas doing well to thwart Tshepang Moremi.
The second half saw a flurry of substitutions from both teams. The Buccaneers faced a significant challenge when replacement goalkeeper Sipho Chaine was dismissed for handball, leaving them with 10 men. Despite being a man down, Pirates managed to find the back of the net through Evidence Makgopa, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offsides.
Las Palmas sought to capitalize on their numerical advantage, with Adam Arvelo nearly breaking the deadlock late in the game, only for Nkosinathi Sibisi to make a crucial last-ditch block.
As the game wound down, both sides created half-chances, but neither could find the decisive touch, resulting in a stalemate.
Orlando Pirates will conclude their pre-season tour with a friendly against Granada later today, Saturday, July 19, 2025. Kick-off is set for 19:00 SAST at the Marbella Football Center.
Fans can catch the action live on the Orlando Pirates’ YouTube channel and on SuperSport TV channel 202.