ISL Season 8: Bengaluru FC after their defeat against NorthEast United came back with a gritty 2-1 win against Odisha FC on Tuesday night at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolime in the Indian Super League. The win keeps Bengaluru FC in the hunt for a place in the semifinals. Follow all the ISL 2021-22 LIVE Updates only on InsideSport.IN
The Blues had to script a comeback as goals from Danish Farooq and Cleiton Silva saw them bag all three points against the Kalinga Warriors. Head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli was delighted with the performance from his men as they showed tremendous character in coming back after going down by a goal early on.
FULL-TIME | #BFCOFC@bengalurufc keep their hopes alive for a semi-final spot with a comeback win over @OdishaFC! 🔵👊#HeroISL #LetsFootball #BengaluruFC #OdishaFC pic.twitter.com/SJH5kvuTEp
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 21, 2022
Bengaluru FC had a lot of players missing out on this match. But Pezzaiuoli still came up with a strong starting eleven. So when quizzed about the players and the overall quality of the team, the German highlighted how most players in the roster can slot right into the starting eleven.
“All the players that we have in our group can be the first choice and I believe in my players. In training, everybody is very good and everybody who is coming inside is the first choice,” Pezzaiuoli stated at the post-match press conference.
The German pointed out how he wanted freshness in the attack and had to leave out someone or the other in the last few games. So he made some changes to keep the team fresh for the upcoming matches.
“We played three days ago and I wanted to have some fresh legs in the team. Against Hyderabad Udanta was out, in the last game we had Prince out and today we have Sunil out. We have good strikers on the bench but to refresh legs for the season of injury and Yaya had the first game after almost three months break and I didn’t want to have a muscle injury.
“Usually, I protect players and that’s why when the game is three days later I think it’s enough to play thirty minutes and lower the risk of getting an injury. That’s why I made this decision,” the Bengaluru FC coach added.
Pezzaiuoli time and again said the importance of taking one game at a time. He pointed out to his team how they need to win the remaining matches to stay in contention after losing to NorthEast United.
“We talked before that we had four games, we lost one, now we won one. It’s important to be still in the race. I told the players the importance for us to look in the mirror, you give your best and when we win it is good because when we look in the mirror we didn’t give our best,” he added.
The German explained how it is important for him and everyone at the club to be honest with their performances. He wants everyone to give their best and after that, the Blues can only hope that things go their way in other games to get into the semifinals.
We cannot be happy at the end of the season, maybe we reach the top four, maybe not, but we need to look in the mirror and say okay we did our best in the season,” the German tactician concluded.
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