Bottom-placed Dynamos face table toppers Bengaluru FC
NEW DELHI: When Bengaluru decided to join the Indian Super League (ISL) at the start of this season, a lot of people were not sure about how quickly the twotime I-League winners will get used to the 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 bottom-placed Delhi Dynamos on Sunday.
In a competition where the squads go through a drastic makeover every other season, Bengaluru 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.
“We were lucky to get so many of our players back in the squad. That meant that we had more time to plan our strategies and the familiarity helped the players,” Roca told the media.
However, when it comes to scoring goals, it is their new signing - Miku - who has dominated the headlines. The striker has 8 strikes to his name and is the second highest goal-scorer in the competition. But, Roca said that they will not be taking Delhi Dynamos lightly. “I know that the results have not gone Delhi’s way. But, they are still a good side and it will be stupid of us to take them them lightly,” he said.
It has been a disastrous campaign for Delhi. With seven defeats out of nine chances of making the semi-finals are next to none. Dynamos coach Miguel Angel Portugal echoed similar sentiments in the pre-match conference and said that his side will be treating the tie as a ‘final’ chance to keep their semi-finals chances alive. “The semi-finals 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.