Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza was delighted after his team qualified for the playoffs with a 1-0 win against Chennaiyin FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru in the ongoing Indian Super League.
Rahul Bheke scored the only goal of the evening in the 37th minute to give all three points to the Blues and book their place in the last six of the ongoing edition.
The home team had 56.4% possession but took only four shots on target.
“We did games in January where we were really good in attack and really good in defence, and we could not take any points. And now the last three games were, for me, we were not in a top level. Yet we won three games, nine points, three clean sheets. Football is like this,” Gerard Zaragoza said during the post-match press conference.
The Blues had got off to a fantastic start in the season but veered off the track for a bit.
“We’re playing with clean sheets. We cannot be happier, we are in the playoff. This season we deserve to be in the playoffs, and so the thing continues. We have the game on Sunday. Let’s go to Kolkata and try to win,” he stated.
“This is the season that we started amazingly, and we deserved the points that we had in the first part. Then we had this January that no one understood, but finally, we could return to our ways, and now let’s try to win the last two matches and arrive as much better as possible in this playoff,” the coach said.
Meanwhile, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu got his 50th clean sheet in the ISL and Zaragoza showered praise on the goalkeeper.
“We love Gurpreet. We love him and he’s part of the team. He started the league at one crazy good level. And then he made mistakes, but like the other ones, like me, and the strikers, also made mistakes. But then when the goalkeeper makes a mistake, it’s always not easy,” he stated.
“But I think it was the team who was not at a good level. I also want to congratulate Lalthuammawia because he entered during an important moment. He got two clean sheets. But how good he worked the last two weeks with the goalkeeping coach, was amazing,” he said as he concluded.
Bengaluru FC will next take on East Bengal at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Sunday.
