Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer leaves club after emphatic win

- After beating Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in the MTN8 semi-final, Orlando Pirates announced that their coach Josef Zinnbauer is heading back to Germany

- The Soweto club granted Zinnbauer leave so that he could go home to attend to his son who had been admitted to hospital

- The club reported that the coach would return soon, however it is not clear when exactly he would be coming back

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Orlando Pirates beat Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in the MTN8 first leg semi-final yesterday. However, celebrations were short-lived as shortly afterwards, the club reported that their coach Josef Zinnbauer would be returning to Germany.

The Soweto club said in a statement that they had granted Zinnbauer leave to go home as his son had been admitted to hospital.

"Unfortunately, out of respect for Mr Zinnbauer and his family we cannot divulge anything more except to say that his son is in hospital," the statement read.

According to the statement by Orlando Pirates, the 50-year-old coach is expected to return to the club soon, but it is unclear when that will be. The club stated that they could not divulge more information about the situation out of respect for Zinnbauer's privacy.

"The coach has requested for his family’s privacy to be respected during this difficult time," said the club.

There was speculation that the head coach had actually resigned from his position but Pirates dismissed these claims after releasing their statement. A few fans expressed their concerns after the statement had been released, with some showing that they did not even read the statement properly.

@Karabo_Rithuri1 said: "If you’ve been following this club you’d know that’s how coaches leave. Micho went to attend to his sick mother and never came back but carry on telling people who know this cycle to 'read'".

@JerryvanLamola said: I just want to see a picture of things he left behind just to confirm it is leave. My team disappointed me many times."

In other news, Briefly.co.za reported yesterday that Pirates blew Chiefs out of the water with a stunning 3-0 victory. Orlando Pirates have defeated the Kaizer Chiefs, walking away with a 3-0 victory at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday in the initial stages of the MTN8 semifinal. Josef Zinnbauer's team seemed to click and worked together as a team and outplayed Chiefs.

This is the second 0-3 defeat that the Chiefs have suffered in as many weeks after losing to Mamelodi Sundowns. Zakhele Lepasa, Vincent Pule and Theminkosi Lorch point points on the board for the Bucs. Zinnbauer is still working on his team, he made six changes to his lineup before Saturday's match, he seemed to have improved on his combinations after the stunning victory.

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Source: Briefly News