AFC Cup 2018: Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca demands huge reaction from his side ahead of their match against Aizawl FC
The Blues have had a terrific outing in AFC Cup 2018 so far, winning three out of four games. However, their chances of qualification to the next round still hangs in the balance.
Bengaluru will play the return leg match against Aizawl at their Fortress, Sree Kanteerava Stadium on 2nd May. The fans are sure to get behind the team and this will be a huge advantage as they are in a do-or-die situation. The Super Cup winners are tied with New Radiant SC on points, with the latter being on the top thanks to a better goal difference,
Bengaluru's chances of making it to the zonal semifinal are topsy-turvy after their 2-0 defeat to New Radiant last week. The Albert Roca-coached side will need to come out with flying colours, scoring multiple goals in the upcoming match and unsurprisingly the Spaniard has asked for a big reaction from the team in the must-win match.
During the pre-match press conference, Roca said, “We are in a situation where we could finish the group stages with 15 points and still find ourselves out of the Cup. But that’s how football is sometimes and we need to accept it and focus on getting our side of the job done and then hope for the best."
If both Bengaluru and New Radiant SC win their next two games, a better head-to-head goal difference gives the Maldivian side the greater chance to qualify.
Roca admitted that his side looked lacklustre last week against New Radiant as he said, “It was more disappointing than frustrating to watch the way we played last week. We didn’t turn up and were made to suffer. But there’s no time to discuss the defeat. We need to react with a strong performance that gives us the best chance to progress.”
However, he remains hopeful that his team will be over that defeat coming into this match and completely divert their attention to what they have in their hands presently.
In their previous encounter with Aizawl at Guwahati, Bengaluru had conceded an early goal but they managed to turn the game around completely, ultimately winning the tie 3-1 comfortably. Santosh Kashyap's side is struggling at the bottom of the table and their sole aim would be to spoil the party for the Super Cup winners as they have nothing to lose and can go all out unabashedly.
Daniel Segovia will also be back in the Bengaluru side after being on the sidelines briefly due to an injury. Speaking of the Spanish striker, Roca said, “Segovia’s return gives us more options in attack and given our situation, we need goals to finish the game off. Of course, it’s going to take a collective effort over two games to pull us over the line.”
Roca will also be closely monitoring New Radiant's match against Abahani Dhaka as that result will also prove to be vital for the standings. “It’s unfortunate that we have to depend on other results to go our way. But like I’ve said before, we need to fix as much as we can and that will happen when we put on a performance that this team is capable of," he said.