Antonio Habas: Mohun Bagan’s shield-winning coach who found a home in the City of Joy
Having taken charge of the club mid-season, the ga er guided MBSG to its maiden League Winners Shield and yet another Indian Super League nal
t full-time, Antonio Lopez Habas had his hand on his head. The Mohun Bagan Super Giant head coach had failed to beat Mumbai City FC in two nals over four years.
But for the Mohun Bagan faithful, he has been nothing short of a legend, with chees of “Habas! Habas!” ringing around the stands before kick-o.
Having taken charge of the club mid-season, in January 2024, he guided the team to its maiden Indian Super League Winners Shield and yet another ISL nal – a record-extending fourth for Habas.
“In my case, it might be true (that ISL is synonymous with Habas). But that information is not important or relevant. What matters is Mohun Bagan now and how it performs,” Habas said.
MBSG started the 2023-24 season on a high – winning the Durand Cup, beating East Bengal in the nal. But as the season progressed, injuries and international duties saw around nine players out of the team.
Mohun Bagan’s form fell, losing three consecutive games in the AFC Cup and as many back-to-back games in the run-up to the Kalinga Super Cup.
Its loss to EBFC in the Super Cup seminal in December was the nal nail in the con as its head coach, Juan Ferrando, was replaced by Habas.
In four months, the Spaniard has not just taken the club to two nals but has gotten the best of players – Anirudh
Thapa and Liston Colaco – who were otherwise struggling under Ferrando.
ALearning from Benitez and international exposure
Habas belongs to the breed of managers who have had a rather low-key prole as a player, playing mostly in Spain’s second division and retiring at 29 with a knee injury.
He started his coaching career with the reserve side of Atletico Madrid in 1990 and within three years, he was assisting ◣abier Azkargorta at the Bolivian national team – where he had his rst prominent stint as manager.
In his two spells with La Verde (rst as an assistant and then as manager), he took them to the quarternals and nals, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. It was Bolivia’s best performance in over two decades.
In the 1997 Copa America nal, his team nished second-best to only Brazil, under World Cup-winning manager Mario Zagalo.
“Brazil had a fantastic team, with world-class players such as (Claudio) Tafarell, Cafú, Roberto Carlos, Dunga,
Edmundo (Neto) and Ronaldo.
“Bolivia put up a big ght by drawing the match 1-1 on half-time and making four shots to Tafarell’s goalposts, but Ronaldo tilted the match in the end for Brazil,” the Spaniard told Goal in a previous interview.
After the turn of the 21st century, he worked as assistant coach to Rafael Benitez in Spain as Valencia won the LaLiga title in 2002.
But in India, his experience bore fruits from the inaugural season of the ISL, where Atletico de Kolkata, under his management, beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 to win the trophy – one that marked his love story with Indian Football.
“It is a good time for me (here) because I coached Bolivia, Bolivar, and then won the league title with Benitez’s Valencia, the UEFA Cup and the Super Cup. Then I coached in South Africa (Mamelodi Sundowns in the South Africa Premier Division). I am very proud and happy to be here,” Habas said.
In a decade of his stay in India, he has won almost half of all matches (48 percent) he has managed, losing just 12 of his 118 games, winning three trophies, two ISL trophies and one Shield here.
Style of play
Habas, though starting with a 4-3-1-2 formation while managing Bolivia, has preferred a three-man defence over the years, with the same trend following at Mohun Bagan this season.
Using a 3-1-4-2 shape, he has maximised wing-play for the Mariners and Manvir Singh and Liston Colaco have proved eective in the same under him. Unsurprisingly, three-fourths (75.4 percent) of Mohun Bagan’s attacks have happened through the ¨anks this season.
His team has typically walked the road of pragmatism for results, looking for an early lead and then using two blocks of defence – the centre-backs with two defensive midelders and wing-backs in front – to defend the lead.
Mohun Bagan scored 26 goals in the rst half, including Jason Cummings’ strike in the nal, the highest among all ISL teams this season.
The approach, however, is not as defensive as Jose Mourinho’s park-the-bus and the side maintains balance with chances to attack against the run of play through the wings.
The best part of his plans is every player is designated concrete roles, which keeps his instructions discreet.
It is here that a midelder like Anirudh Thapa has shone well, playing as a No. 10 instead of being a mix of No. 6 and No. 8 under Ferrando, ultimately playing out of position. And it was here, a frequent shift in position, that saw him struggle in the ISL nal.
An incomplete circle
Habas has been in two ISL nals as
Mohun Bagan coach, in 2020-21 and 2023-24. Having lost the previous to Mumbai City, he had intended to ‘complete the circle’ in his last phase of coaching this time around.
“That nal loss now is past us. We are thinking only about tomorrow. We have to complete the circle. I am satised with my