SERGIO LOBERA AIMS TO CHANGE MUMBAI CITY FC’S FORTUNES

MUMBAI: New season, new team, new ownership group and a new-look squad—everything about the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) feels fresh for Mumbai City FC and their new head coach Sergio Lobera.

“We need to work a lot because when you need to implement something new, you need more time. And we don’t have time,” Lobera said in a Zoom chat from Goa on Tuesday. The Spaniard took charge of FC Goa in 2017 and guided them to the ISL semi-finals (2017-18), final (2018-19) and the 2019 Super Cup title. Lobera was sacked towards the end of last season despite Goa sitting at the top of the table due to an internal feud.

The City Football Group (CFG)—it acquired a historic majority stake in Mumbai City last November—pounced on Lobera. Mumbai have been ISL’s perennial underachievers, reaching the play-offs only twice. Lobera has to incorporate his FC Goa model in Mumbai City, in a bio-bubble wrapped, curtailed season in Goa without even having a regular pre-season.

“It is a big challenge. The situation is constantly changing— there are guys in quarantine, players coming out of it, some down with injuries. Maybe it’s possible to work with a full squad only three-four days before the first game. It is not easy. But I embrace this not as a problem, but as a challenge,” he said. Lobera’s brand of attacking football is in line with CFG’s vision for Mumbai though as one of the most successful coaches in the league, not having laid his hands on the ISL trophy must feel odd. “My dream is to win the trophy… we need to focus on things that can make it possible,” he said.