After historic fixture, Des Buckingham demands focus back on the ACL campaign from the Mumbai City FC players as they take on Al-Jazira

After creating history in the last game, Mumbai City FC will try to continue that momentum against former UAE champions Al Jazira in their next group stage fixture on the 14th of April. Des Buyckingham’s men have already written history and now anything else they get can be considered as a huge bonus.

After their 2-1 win over Iraq’s Air Force, Des Buckingham shared that he gave the players a much needed rest. The games are coming thick and fast and there is hardly any time to plan and prepare.

“It’s a game that we’re looking forward to. It’s our third game in the space of eight days. So, it’s been important in the last 48 hours to try and get some rest and recovery into the players. But, we’re in a good space. We now have the majority of our squad available and we’re as ready for the game as we can be,” Buckingham began at the pre match press conference.

The Englishman understands that it can get difficult to shift focus back in the tournament after winning a match in the AFC Champions League. So he warns his players to reset and get their focus back on the games that are scheduled for them ahead in the tournament. He adds that without focus these teams can be ruthless at this level and it won’t be a nice experience for them.

“We must quickly turn our focus back to this competition and back to this game that’s in front of us. Because if we don’t, we know the qualities we’re up against. We know how ruthless football can be at times. But, we look at it in a way that we achieved what we set out to and we have the opportunity to reset, go and see what we can do. It’s important that with four games to go, we don’t know what we can do. But, I’m excited about what we have the potential to go to do,” Buckingham highlighted.

The 37-year-old English tactician shared how they will once again miss Igor Angulo for this clash and will have to stick with the combination of Australian Bradden Inman and Diego Mauricio upfront, allowing them to play a slightly different way that brought them success in the last game.

“We’re still missing our leading goal scorer. Our Asian player Brad Inman was fortunately available in the last game. He got 45 minutes into it. Having Brad is available to us and bringing Diego (Mauricio) in gives us different ways of playing. So, we’ll continue our positive approach to showcasing our players and how well they can play, whilst also being wary of the qualities that Al Jazira possess, ” Buckingham concluded.