NorthEast United FC’s head coach Juan Pedro Benali revealed they trained a lot to achieve a convincing 5-0 win against Jamshedpur FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati in the Indian Super League on Saturday. 

Parthib Gogoi and Alaeddine Ajaraie scored a brace each whereas Nickson also found the back of the net in the 82nd minute to give a thumping win to their team. 

With this brace, Gogoi became NorthEast United FC’s highest goal-scorer as he has now netted 16 goals for the club. Ajaraie also continued his rich form as he has scored seven goals in six matches of the season.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Benali highlighted the team’s performance stating, “The most important thing (is we) played well, we did what we (had to) should do in all the games. Most importantly we didn’t concede and (I am) happy and proud of the players.”

Benali urged his team to continue the winning impetus for the upcoming matches.

“As I said in the press conference before the match..this should not be a tree to cover all the forest..we need to keep working the league is still so long”

Benali praised the defenders for their solid work against Jamshedpur FC. “Very solid defending, pressing the ball well, playing good football. When we had a chance, we scored,” he said.

Speaking on the absence of midfielder Mohammed Ali Bemammer, Benali said, “This is football. We win and lose games, this has nothing to do with one player or the other.”

The head coach added it wasn’t easy and it was a hard fought win for his team.

“Was not easy, we’ve been working for one week on all the details and everything. Nothing is easy..we were playing against a strong and physical team. We knew that if we do our job, (execute) our game plan, we can win and that is what happened. We trained a lot to do this,” he said.

NorthEast United will next take on Odisha FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday.