Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas believes his side are in a better position when compared to the previous derby in October with a number of key players returning to full fitness.

The Amakhosi will do battle with the Buccaneers at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the semi-finals of the Telkom Knockout and despite losing against their rivals 2-1 only a few weeks ago, Solinas remains upbeat about his side’s prospects.

In that derby loss in the Absa Premiership, Chiefs were sweating over the fitness of a number of their key players. This time, however, Solinas will have a full compliment of players to choose from.

With the pressure on Solinas after the last derby defeat, and an all-round underwhelming start to life at Naturena, the Italian admitted on Thursday during a press conference that the Soweto derby is unlike any other fixture.

‘This is not a game – this is ‘The Game’. This is the game with a capital letter ‘G’,’ said the former Free State Stars coach.

‘Chiefs against Pirates is ‘The Game’. It is a very important game.

‘And we arrive in this game much better than last time. Because last time we had players injured‚ we had players not training for five or six days.

‘For example Khama [Billiat] – we had a problem with Khama‚ who had not trained for six days. He trained only on the day before the derby.

‘In the last derby we did not have Lebogang Manyama.

‘But generally the condition in the last derby was not good. Now it’s much better because all players are available.

‘The fitness of the players is OK. This for me is very big positive.

‘You know we are Kaizer Chiefs. Kaizer Chiefs need to play to win,’ concluded Solinas.

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