ISL Season 8: Bengaluru FC were held to a 1-1 draw against FC Goa in their latest Indian Super League game on Sunday at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim.
It was FC Goa’s Australian defender Dylan Fox who broke the deadlock in the 41st minute of the game. But in the second half, Bengaluru FC came back in the game as Sunil Chhetri finally scored through a Prince Ibara cross. Chhetri could have almost won them the game as his last-ditch effort struck the crossbar on its way out. Follow all the ISL 2021-22 Live Updates only on InsideSport.IN
It ends all square at the Bambolim, where the skipper's second half strike cancels out Dylan Fox's opener. #WeAreBFC #BFCFCG pic.twitter.com/hZQ10Y0Ufm
— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) January 23, 2022
Deserved to win
Blues head coach Marco Pezzaiouli was visibly disappointed at the post-match press conference as he knew that Bengaluru FC could have bagged all three points in the match. When questioned whether he thought draw was a fair result or not, Pezzaiouli replied, “I don’t think so. With the chances that we had today, we deserved to win. I think we hit the bar, we had a chance for Cleiton Silva in the first half. We had a lot of chances today but we didn’t win.”
Thoughts on Sunil Chhetri and his goal
The German tactician was reluctant to talk about Sunil Chhetri as he kept mentioning how it is about the team as a whole. Still, he revealed how he had a feeling that Chhetri will score and also credited the veteran for his efforts on the pitch.
“Today I decided to start him as I had a feeling he would score. Again it’s not about Chhetri. I’m happy for him that he scored, he would be happy too but it was an important goal for the team. He also had a second chance to score as he hit the bar. In the end though it’s all about the team,” Pezzaiouli explained.
Taking off Iman Basafa early
Some people were surprised to see Iranian midfielder Iman Basafa in the starting eleven. But then Pezzaiouli replaced him with Suresh Wangjam right at the start of the second half. When quizzed the reason behind staking off Basafa so early on, the German pointed out how he was already on a yellow card and he could not risk going down to 10 men.
“We played well in the first thirty minutes. I don’t think FC Goa created any chances in the first half hour. Then we lost control in the central midfield. Iman played a good game but he had a yellow card and he had three fouls after that. I was also not happy with the position during the set-piece that we conceded. But the main reason was the risk of going down to ten men,” Pezzaiouli revealed.
Thoughts on turning draws into wins
It has been a tough season for the teams and for the players and Bengaluru FC are no different. Although they are in eighth in the point table they are on a six games unbeaten run. In this time frame, they have only won two matches while the other four have been draws. When asked about turning the draws into wins the Bengaluru FC head coach highlighted how tough it has been for some of the players on quarantine and with only two training sessions.
“We won the last match against Mumbai CIty FC. We also need to be realistic. We stayed ten days in the room and had two training sessions. There were five players on the bench today who came out of quarantine in the afternoon. So we need to be really happy how they played and how much effort they put in to win the game. There were some players with heavy legs but they continued and continued to play football. I think we deserved to win the game in the end,” Pezzaiouli signed off.
Editors pick
