Benedict Tso Vilakazi: Best player I played with

We went down memory lane to find out who the best player former Pirates legend Benedict Tso Vilakazi played with over his well decorated career.

With the Soweto Derby on our doorstep, it’s important for us to remember those who have gone before us, to lay the foundation and the reason why we are all looking forward to the derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates this Saturday at 15:30 at the FNB Stadium

“I enjoyed playing with all the guys, but for me the late Lesley Manyathela was special. We had a very good understanding,” Vilakazi told This Is Football.Africa

“He was a striker and I was playing in the midfield, we were close and we were also playing together in the national team at under 20, and again playing together at Pirates. We would sit together and talk about how we are playing and how we can hurt and break down the opponents we are about to face in terms of our combination play. He would make runs, and while I was carrying the ball, he would be the only person I would look for before passing to anybody else. We had such a great understanding on and off the field, he was a very good striker.”

Lesley Manyathela, better known as “slow poison”, was a tall and intelligent striker who knew how to score all types of goals. A career short lived, but he made such a huge impact within the period he was active within the top flight.

He was on the verge of signing for a prestigious Ukrainian club Dynamo Kiev, after a good trial when he was taken away. But he will always be remembered for being that lethal goalscorer, who scored 48 goals in 73 appearances for Orlando Pirates, and was the league’s top scorer in 2003.