Bengaluru face bottom-placed Dynamos
NEW DELHI: When Bengaluru FC decided to join the ISL at the start of this season, a lot of people were not sure about how quickly the two-time I-League winners will get used to the new competition. However, with 18 points from 9 games, Albert Roca’s side has proven the doubters wrong and the current league leaders will start favourites against bottomplaced Delhi Dynamos at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Sunday.
In a competition where the squads go through a drastic makeover every other season, Bengaluru FC were able to hold on to their core players and that proved to be crucial. At the start of the season, they retained five players and shrewd business in the player draft meant that Albert Roca had almost half of his previous squad at his disposal. That made the transition easy for Bengaluru FC and the I-League champions had relatively lesser issues building the team.
“We were lucky to get many of our ex-players back in the squad. That meant we had more time to plan and the familiarity helped the players too,” Roca said.
However, when it comes to scoring goals, it is their new signing, Miku, who has dominated the headlines. The Venezuelan has shown tremendous potential in front of the goal and with 8 strikes to his name, he is the second highest goal-scorer in the competition right now. But, Roca is not ready to rest on his laurels and he said that they will not be taking Delhi Dynamos lightly.
“I know that the results have not gone Delhi’s way this season. But, they are still a good side who want to good football and it will be stupid of us to take them them lightly,” he said.
On the other hand, it has been a disastrous campaign for Delhi Dynamos. The defeat against Kerala Blasters on Wednesday was their seventh of the season and barring some miracle, their chances of making the semifinals are next to none. Dynamos coach Miguel Angel Portugal echoed similar sentiments in the prematch press conference and said that his side will be treating the match against Bengaluru FC as a ‘final’ chance to keep their dreams of reaching the knockout stages alive.
“The semifinals are almost out of our reach and this match is our only chance of keeping the hope alive. So, we have nothing to lose in this game. For us, this match is like a final,” Portugal said.