The Spanish defender sustained the injury during a tackle with Gokulam Kerala FC forward Luka inside the penalty area, looked in extreme pain and had to be stretchered out.
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ATK Mohun Bagan suffered a 4-2 defeat against Gokulam Kerala FC in the AFC Cup group D opener at Salt Lake stadium on Wednesday. Juan Ferrando’s side didn’t have a great day at the office and one of the main reasons for their failure was the injury to central defender Tiri. The Spaniard suffered an ACL injury in the 37th minute and was substituted with Ashutosh Mehta. The Mariners’ defence stumbled in the second half and conceded four goals. Luka Majcen scored a brace while P Rishad and Jithin MS netted a goal each for the winning side. Meanwhile Pritam Kotal and Liston Colaco reduced the deficit for ATKMB.
My Brother, I wish you Speedy Recovery. I know you are a Warrior ????? @Tiri1991 God Bless❤️ pic.twitter.com/JKIJFpFY9y
— Sandesh Jhingan (@SandeshJhingan) May 19, 2022
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Tiri sustained the injury during a tackle with GKFC forward Luka inside the penalty area and looked in extreme pain and had to be stretchered out. Ferrando admits Tiri’s injury was a decisive moment in the game. “Tiri’s injury was crucial because we had to change our plan. Then I thought about using Ashutosh Mehta for the transitions. We took the decision and we changed the formation as players like Joni Kauko and David Williams were very tired – because of the weather. We were not ready for the transition. In our case, in the first half we had chances but we were unlucky. This is past now. We need to learn from our mistakes,” Ferrando added.
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The 30-year-old centre-back has been playing the Indian Super League (ISL) since 2015 and is currently the most capped foreigner in ISL history. Tiri played a crucial role in ATKMB reaching the semi-finals of 20201-22 ISL season, making the second most number of interceptions (51). The defender managed to make 42 tackles, 36 blocks and 89 clearances in 17 appearances for ATKMB last season. While he had the average passes in that tournament of 54.6/game, his passing accuracy was also very high at 81.6%. These stats indicate how important Tiri is to ATKMB.
In Tiri’s absence Indian international Sandesh Jhingan is likely to partner Pritam Kotal in the heart of the defence. The former Kerala Blasters FC player played just 690 minutes of football in the last ISL season, since returning home after a failed European stint. The 28-year-old is desperate to get more game time after struggling with a series of injuries. Jhingan is a no-nonsense defender who is not hesitant to put his body on the line and has great leadership qualities. He is a warrior on the field and is the perfect replacement for Tiri.
The Kolkata outfit’s next game is against Bashundhara Kings on Saturday and Ferrando will have to quickly find a way to get his team back to winning ways. In the previous game, ATKMB defence struggled to cope with GKFC’s quick counter-attacks and the back four looked in sixes and sevens. There was lot of space for the GKFC attackers to work with as there was a huge gap between the defence and midfield. The Spanish tactician could bring in an extra midfielder in place of an attacker and they need to be more compact for the next match.
