After a five-year absence in the CAF Champions League group stages, Orlando Pirates have been reminded of the hostility of facing record champions Al Ahly.
Pirates have been drawn in Group C, alongside the Egyptian giants, CR Belouizdad and Stade d'Abidjan.
The Soweto giants finally made it into the group stages after defeating Jwaneng Galaxy in the second preliminary round.
The last time the Buccaneers were at this stage was in the 2018/19 season but they could not get out of Group B, after finishing third, eight points behind leaders Esperance and four points behind second-placed Horoya.
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However, Pirates have shown pedigree in the CAF tournaments at least in the last decade, after reaching the CAF Champions League final in 2013 and the CAF Confederation Cup finals in 2015 and 2022.
Looking back on the heartbreak of coming close to getting a second star on the Pirates badge against Al Ahly in the final second-leg, they lost 2-0 in Cairo and 3-1 on aggregate (after a 1-1 draw in the first-leg), former Bucccaneer midfielder Oupa Manyisa has revealed how the encounter was literally a matter of life and death.
"It was sad, it's part of football, one thing that people don't know is that game was between life and death, remember after the game, one spectator died of Al Ahly.
"After the match the likes of [Wael] Gomaa and other guys came to our change room and told us, 'If we [Pirates] had won, it's either they [Al Ahly] would go out [of the stadium] in body bags or we were gonna go out on body bags'," Manyisa said on Smash Sports YouTube Channel.
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"So sometimes God works in mysterious ways. It was very intense. Remember we were playing that side during the war, so I remember one time we were taking a walk after breakfast, we saw two guys selling a gun [wrapped] in a newspaper on the street," 'Ace' revealed.
Pirates will host Al Ahly in matchday two of the group stages on 6 December at Orlando Stadium and will visit Cairo in the last group game just after mid January next year.
