NorthEast United FC’s head coach Juan Pedro Benali showered praise on owner John Abraham after they stunned Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the Durand Cup final at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Saturday.
Jason Cummings and Sahal Abdul Samad scored for the Mariners in the opening half to put their team in front. However, Alaeddine Ajaraie and Guillermo Fernandez leveled for the Highlanders in 15 minutes after half-time.
Benali’s team won their first-ever piece of silverware after winning on penalty shootout.
Meanwhile, John Abraham deserves a lot of credit as he backed his team despite a lack of sponsors and not much success in the Indian Super League.
Juan Pedro Benali shared his gratitude to John Abraham for bringing him to the club. He elaborated, “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for making this fantastic team. Thank you for suffering. Thank you for crying. You know, he deserves it, he’s a gentleman who gives everything to the team, everything to the club. And he knows that he represents a big, big region, a fantastic region of football. Everybody must be proud of him. And sincerely, I’m proud to have a boss like him.”
The 55-year-old Spaniard admitted they were not up to the mark in the opening half but lauded his players for bouncing back in the second half.
“We do the game plan, we prepare all week for it. You know, the first half, I think we were all over the place. We were nervous. We didn’t do the game plan. Our game plan was very clear and very simple. We did it, we trained it. And in the second half, it happened. We came back, we put the team to win the game before the practice. This is exactly what happened.”
Further, he said, “We are really hungry. You know, we are a young team. Till today, we didn’t win absolutely anything. And the players, they deserve it. They worked very, very hard for this moment. You know, and this is the problem.”
“When you underestimate a team like us, you fail. And the players worked very, very hard. They beat themselves. You know, and the result came. I think everyone after the 2-0 in the first half thought it was finished. We are the wolves of the Northeast. We always go hunting. We are hungry. Till the last minute,” he added.
NorthEast United will look to keep the same form in the upcoming ISL.
