Bengaluru FC will lock horns with hosts Maziya S&RC to finish their AFC Cup campaign. After only registering a single point against Bashundhara Kings in their last match, the Blues are out of the AFC Cup. However, they will look to end the campaign on a high note by winning against the Green Boys.
Before taking the field, head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli was very annoyed with the referees from the last game. There was a controversial call from the linesman in the second half when Alan Costa’s header struck the post and was hovering around the goal line before the goalkeeper cleared it. Pezzaiuoli feels that it was clearly a goal for his team and hence he complained regarding the referees.
He said,”We’re highly motivated to finish well in this tournament. We trained this morning and I saw a good spirit. We had a good game, created a lot of chances and I think we deserved to win. I don’t know how you saw it, was it a goal?”
“I didn’t get anything from the AFC or the referees. Maybe the referee made a mistake? I think in football we try our best and so does the referee. We are sitting here with a different atmosphere because of the result. Normally, you hear from the AFC. It’s not bad to make mistakes, everyone does. I think it’s a good sign for everyone involved when you accept you got something wrong. It was three points for us and I think the team deserved that,” he added.
The German tactician points out Sunil Chhetri’s quote of every day is a new day and they need to start afresh. However, he is confident that his men will finish the campaign with a win. “As Sunil Chhetri told you at the beginning of the first press conference, history doesn’t decide football matches. It’s a new game, new teams, new people trying new things, new team spirit.
“One thing we know is that the Maziya team played two games and lost, but we need to respect them. We need to focus on our style. From the game against the team from Nepal, we have made several steps.
“I hope tomorrow we make another step forward for our mentality. It’s not easy, but in life, it’s not always about winning. We want to progress and move forward regardless of the last result,” he added.
Despite Maziya consecutive matches, it will be a very tight contest for the Blues. They have not found the back of the net in both games and therefore players like Sunil Chhetri, Cleiton Silva and others need to take more responsibility upfront.
