Dhaka, May 2: Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani Ltd. Dhaka are all focused to win against visiting Bengaluru FC in the group E match of AFC Cup at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Wednesday.
The sky blues expressed their hope at the pre-match press conference held at the at the BFF office on Tuesday.
The press conference was attended by the coaches and captains of both the teams.
In the press conference, Alberto Roca Pujol, the Spanish coach of Bengaluru admitted that the match will be tough for them.
“Benglauru has arrived at Dhaka to win the game. In the last match, we played well and deserved to win; but here in Dhaka tomorrow, it would be a different story. Abahani is a good team and we know they will be eager to win the match. We have enough information on them and we are ready to face the challenge. We will be giving our best. Abahani will try to put us in trouble. We rested some of our key players in the last I league match as we want to start afresh. It is always difficult to win away matches”.
Roca said there is no room of complacency as his team sit atop the table with maximum nine points.
“We are taking Abahani seriously and we are not having any complacency. Winning tomorrow will boost us for the next stage of the competition. We have won the last six games and we want to keep the success spree continuing.”
“We don’t have any serious injuries. We have a big squad to make up the vacuum, if there is any. Marjan Jugovic’s injury will not be a matter. I am convinced and faithful with my Indian forwards also,” added Roca.
Drago Mamic, the Serbian coach of Abahani, said that his team stand at the point of no return.
“We have played two away and one home matches and lost them all. Now, we stand at the point of no return. We are now on an obligation of winning a match and maybe it is tomorrow. We will try with all our efforts to win the match.”
“But at the same time, after playing three matches, I have to admit that Abahani is not fit to fulfil the requirements of a tournament like the AFC Cup at the moment. Our opponents have already played 18 to 19 matches where we have played only three. With only two months preparation,ÂÂ you can’t expect Abahani to be the best. Bengaluru,ÂÂ I think,ÂÂ is one of the best clubs in Asia but we are focused to win the match tomorrow,” added Mamic.
Mamic thought that Abahani fell victim of a poor decision. “In the last match,ÂÂ the result was 2-0 but I think it was 1-0 as the ball did not cross the goal-line on the second occasion. I want to field my team without any pressure.ÂÂ The last resultÂÂ maybe was a little frustrating but not disappointing.ÂÂ We want to show our prowess tomorrow. We welcome Samad Yusuf back in the eleven as he missed the last match against Bengaluru due to visa complicacies,” concluded Mamic.
The match has been scheduled to take place at 6:10 pm on May 3, 2017 (Wednesday) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
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