Gerard Zaragoza reflects on areas of improvement after draw against East Bengal FC

Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza shared his satisfaction after a 1-1 draw against East Bengal FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, Kolkata in the ongoing Indian Super League on Sunday. 

The Red and Gold Brigade scored the opening goal as Raphael Messi Bouli found the back of the net in the 11th minute. The hosts were reduced to 10 men after Dimitrios Diamantakos picked up a red card in the injury time of the first half.

When it looked like the home team would run away with three points, the Blues captain Sunil Chhetri scored from a spot-kick in the stoppage time.

“After winning three matches, East Bengal FC must have hoped to arrive to the playoffs and they started the game in one level more than us. I told my players that this will happen but also said that be careful because it’s too hot and this could go against us because we played two games in a row,” Zaragoza said in the post-match press conference.

The visitors dominated the possession with 67.9% but Zaragoza was not pleased with his players as he said they left a lot of space between the lines.

“East Bengal FC started winning the duels (in the first half). We were too separate between the lines. Something that I hate. I like my team to be together and play as much together as possible if we want to press high. We need the defenders to be high. And they have two strikers, two really good strikers. And then our defenders went back and we had a lot of space between the lines. Then I think we changed a little bit and the red card helped us. But even like this, it’s not easy. You’re playing against one team who is leading 1-0.. Today we had chances to score. We didn’t score. They had some counter-attacks to finish the game. But finally, one point for each team is what we deserve today,” he said.

Bengaluru FC will next take on Mumbai City FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on 11th March.