Following a crashing 3-1 derby defeat at the hands of Juan Ferrando’s ATK Mohun Bagan, SC East Bengal Head Coach, Mario Rivera did not seem to be quite as demotivated. Despite taking a lead in the 56th minute, the Red and Gold Brigade lost the game to the sheer brilliance of young Kiyan Nassiri. Nassiri went on to become the youngest hat-trick scorer for ATKMB.
However, the coach looked to be in renewed spirits as he spoke to the media before their clash against Chennaiyin FC at Tilak Maidan on Wednesday.
The following are a few important excerpts from conversation.
Keeping the derby loss woes away, the coach said in rejuvenated spirits, “For professional teams, when you lose a match, you have to keep the good things, eliminate the bad things and start from scratch in the next match. It’ll be no different for us. ”
Adding to that the coach also spoke on the mentality of the team following the result and the preparation for the next . He was seen saying, “The confidence of a team is more related to the performance than the results. Sometimes you can play well and lose and vice-versa. Our performance is much better than the results so the players are in a good space mentally.”
“We are always thinking in terms of winning the next match and we will try to achieve the same target in the game against Chennaiyin FC as well.” added the coach.
While absence of Antonio Perosevic has taken away a lot of important wins from East Bengal, Rivera remains positive with Perosevic’s return. Speaking on the much anticipated duo of Perosevic and Marcelo Ribeiro, the coach was quoted saying, “Marcelo and Perosevic’s combination is one to watch out for. It is difficult because Marcelo cannot speak English but they are starting to understand each other now.”
While SC East Bengal are yet to find their second win in the tournament, Chennaiyin FC would look for all three points to reach the top four of the season. The highly contested clash can viewed on Star Sports 3 along with live streaming on Disney+ Hotstar and Jio TV from 7.30 pm.
