ISL 2017: Albert Roca pleased with Miku and Udanta after Bengaluru's win over Mumbai City
Bengaluru FC beat Mumbai City FC 2-0 on their Indian Super League (ISL) debut on Sunday night at the Kanteerava Stadium with second-half goals from Edu Garcia and skipper Sunil Chhetri giving the Blues all three points. And coach Albert Roca couldn't be happier with not only his squad but also the home support after his side moved to the top of the table.
"The atmosphere at the ground is very important for the club and the city," he said as a record 17,796 fans turned up. "The first victory [in the ISL] was very important."
The 2-0 win was resounding with the Blues performing well at both ends of the pitch. "We needed a good balance between attack and defence and I think we had that today."
Udanta Singh, in particular, had a great game on the right flank as he troubled the Mumbai defence time and again with his pace and runs.
"Udanta was playing very well, I'm happy to have a player like him," Roca said. "He's a young player that gave us a lot of things on the pitch. He's one of our fastest players in the squad and provides us with pace on the ball."
Although they took their time to breach the Mumbai defence, the Blues eventually did thanks to a short corner taken by Edu Garcia where he received the ball on the return pass and took a shot at the near post to score.
"We trained for that short corner," Roca explained, heaping praise on his assistant Carles Cuadrat who had drawn up the move. "We created good chances to score [in open play] but we weren't lucky. But with set pieces also we can open games like we did today. So we'll keep working on that."
Although he didn't get on the score sheet, Bengaluru forward Miku was crucial to the Blues' attacking triumvirate. He came off in the 85th minute to a standing ovation and Roca, too, was very pleased with his performance.
"Miku is an outstanding player who has played in the Spanish La Liga," he said. "We expect him to perform like that. Around him all the players are better.
"As a striker his role is not only to score. I'm happy we had his help to win this game and I'm sure he will do better to score in the next game."