Mumbai City FC produced a gritty performance to stun defending champions, Bengaluru FC with a 3-2 win at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The Islanders showed fighting spirit to convert a draw into a win thanks to Rowllin Borges’ 94th minute winner.
After two consecutive away draws with a similar scoreline (2-2 vs ATK & NEUFC), the Boss, Jorge Costa was pretty happy that the team picked up a win and didn’t lose focus till the end.
Speaking at the post match press conference, Jorge Costa was vocal about his feelings after a much-needed win for the Islanders. He said, “I am very happy with the we played. The team showed quality and scored one goal in the first half. We missed one penalty in the last second of the first half. In football it is like this, if we would have scored then it's 2-0 and for sure the second half would have been easier for us.”
Costa also highlighted on the Mohamed Larbi’s penalty miss in the first half. “When we missed the penalty towards the end of the first half, it was natural that my players will change a little bit and other team (BFC) will gain some confidence. So, it was difficult 2nd half for us.”
Prior to this encounter, BFC had not conceded a single goal at home this season and were on a 17-match unbeaten run at home. Costa was proud of his team’s effort, “We played against one of the best teams in India at the home of the champions. We knew before it would have been a difficult game for us.”
The Boss also emphasized on the luck factor which he thought the team didn’t have in their favour previously. “We played good football, showed quality, fought hard and did our best. We had some luck, which wasn't there against ATK and NEUFC, but we had it against BFC. Sometimes you lose 2 points in the last second and sometimes you win 2 points in the last seconds and this is football. I am very proud of the work the players have done in our win.”
MCFC scored all their goals from crosses and the boss was questioned if they specifically targeted that. He went on to say, “We didn't change anything or do anything new. Of course, every game we must understand the opposition and plan accordingly.
“There are some things that we know that they are not so good. As I was explaining, especially the first half, we are almost perfect except the Larbi penalty, it was a good 45 mins,” said Costa.
The boss finished off by praising the boys on a tremendous result. “We won 3 points because of our quality and we worked a lot. It’s because we believed in each other, players believed in me and I believe in them. And yes, we had some luck, but it's a part of football.”
