FC Bengaluru FC Head Coach Marco Pezzaiuoli said his side were keen on changing their fortunes when they face off against FC Goa in an Indian Super League encounter.
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Bengaluru FC Head Coach Marco Pezzaiuoli said his side were keen on changing their fortunes when they face off against FC Goa in an Indian Super League encounter at the GMC Athletic Stadium, in Bambolim, on Saturday. The Blues have just four points from five games in the League, having lost their last two games against Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad FC.
“The energy in the team is positive, but it doesn’t help that we are not getting the results we want. The most important thing is the three points, and we are investing a lot to get there. Playing games every three days has not been easy, but we are managing the situation as best as we can,” Pezzaiuoli said, speaking to the media on the eve of the game.
FC Goa, meanwhile, have had a tough start to the season themselves, having lost three games on the trot before running out 4-3 winners against East Bengal in their most recent outing. Pezzaiuoli maintained that a lot will rely on his side being able to take advantage of the opposition’s weaknesses.
“In this League, FC Goa are the best team in possession of the ball. They haven’t started very well in this season, but their style of play is very good. They showed a few weaknesses in their opening games, and we’ll have to make the most of that against them,” Pezzaiuoli added.
The German-Italian also provided an update on the fitness of his players, with Udanta Singh, Yrondu Musavu-King, Iman Basafa and Prince Ibara having missed out on the Blues’ clash against Hyderabad FC.
“It’s very important to manage your players well when you are playing games every two or three days. We have had a lot of injuries to key players, but some of them are now back in contention for the game. While Udanta will not be a part of the team on Saturday, the others have recovered and I have them available for the next match,” said Pezzaiuoli.
Kick-off between the Blues and FC Goa is at 9.30 pm and will be telecast live on the STAR Sports Network, Disney+Hotstar and JioTV.
Hyderabad FC registered their second win of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season after a nervous end at Bambolim recently. Bartholomew Ogbeche scored seven minutes into the game, finding the net for the third consecutive game. This was also HFC’s first clean sheet of this league season and was their first victory over the Blues in the ISL. Hyderabad FC now have seven points in four games and are 3rd in the league table.
Manolo Marquez made quite a few changes to starting XI, giving starts to Javi Siverio and Rohit Danu for the first time in the ISL. And it was a confident start from the men in yellow who took very little time in test the BFC backline. And the break through arrived just seven minutes in after Akash Mishra’s dazzling run and pass found Bart Ogbeche in space at the edge of the box. The Nigerian striker who has been in fine form but needed a slight Bengaluru deflection to take his shot past Gurpreet Singh who was left helpless. Hyderabad managed the game well not only till the half-time, restricting Bengaluru to zero shots on target till the hour mark.
