Mumbai City FC’s veteran defender Rahul Bheke has said he will try his best to stop Neymar from playing well. The Islanders are all set to face Al-Hilal, which Neymar has recently joined from Paris Saint-Germain, in the AFC Champions League.
Mumbai City FC has been grouped with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Iran’s FC Nassaji Mazandaran, and Uzbekistan’s Navbahor in Asia’s elite football competition.
The Brazilian star is regarded as one of the best players of the current era along with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Thus, Mumbai City FC’s defenders will have their work cut out against the talisman, who is well known to flummox the opposition with his skills.
“Our players were excited like they wanted to face any one of these (Saudi) teams. Some of them are very big Ronaldo fans, so they wanted Al Nassr to be there. And, the others like we all were excited if we could get one of the teams, and then we got the Al-Hilal. So we are looking forward to playing them,” Bheke said during a press conference after the draw.
“I’m super excited. So whenever we will be playing against them. If I play that game, I will make sure that my best will be to stop him (Neymar) from playing well. That’s the best and all that I can do for the team,” he added.
Bheke added that their preparations for the AFC Champions League will be the same as the previous season. The defender added they will look to qualify for the knockout stages and go one step further.
“Our preparations for the Champions League will be the same as last time. We got the chance and we did our best and got two wins. But it was not enough for us to qualify for the next round. We have to get to the next round, thus our preparations have already started.” Bheke said.
Mumbai City FC will begin their AFC Champions League campaign against Iran’s Nassaji Mazandaran FC on September 18.
