Goa: League leaders Mumbai City FC will face Hyderabad FC on Saturday at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim. With five points clear from their nearest rival ATK Mohun Bagan, the Islanders want to maintain their top spot.
The Mumbai side has been playing some good football. As they have been unbeaten in their last nine matches. With the likes of Hugo Boumous, Bartholomew Ogbeche, Adam Le Fondre, they have been scoring against every side for fun.
Whereas in defence they have wall-like Mourtada Fall and Hernan Santana, their performance in the last match against ATK Mohun Bagan was prolific to say at least. The way they stopped every fall, was certainly eye-catching.
“I am very happy with the results so far. It’s very difficult to keep this situation (going) but the most important thing for us is not the table but improving our performance. I’m very happy and proud of my players. It’s not easy to implement our style of play in a short time. If we want to win trophies, the level of our Indian players has to be high throughout the season,” said Mumbai coach Sergio Lobera in the pre-match press conference.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a good game. They play a similar style (to ours). They have good Indian players and also very experienced foreign players. It’s going to be a different game because they have a full squad now. But the most important thing for us is to focus on our style of play,” Lobera further added.
Hyderabad on the other has scored eight goals in their last two match and shows their capabilities in front of the goal and certainly would not back away before facing Mumbai. Aridane Santana, Halicharan Narzary, Joel Chianese and Liston Colaco are in red hot form and would be a factor against the Islanders on Saturday.
“Mumbai is of course the strongest team in this league. I continue saying that they will be the champions in the regular season because you know in the play-offs, not always the best team wins. We can change some details in our game but it’s important not to lose our style of play. Of course, we have to make some changes in the line-up but it will be a very difficult game,” Hyderabad coach Manolo Marquez said.
