Cleiton Silva: The goals were a tribute to Pele

East Bengal earned their first home win of the season to complete a league double against old rivals Bengaluru FC.

East Bengal fans will have something cheerful to end their year as the side achieved a league double over Bengaluru FC on the last matchday of 2022. It was an equal match that East Bengal edged past via a last-minute brilliant free-kick from Cleiton Silva. He was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch today. This win took East Bengal to 12 points and placed them in eighth place on the points table.

After the game, a happy Cleiton Silva accompanied Constantine at the post-match press conference. Edited excerpts of what the Brazilian had to say are as follows.

Are today’s goals a tribute to Pele?

Cleiton told the presser that he had priorly planned to pay tribute to Pele if he was able to score. He also stated that a personality like Pele can never leave us. He said:

"Yes, of course (it is a tribute to Pele). Before the game, I talked about it with Suhair. If we score today, we will celebrate like the way Pele celebrated in the 1970 World Cup. So, it was great to win a game, especially today. I think Pele will never die. He will be with us forever." 

Can today’s win be attributed to a reduction in mistakes?

Cleiton stated his thoughts on today's win and highlighted the importance of making fewer mistakes than the opponent to win games. He said:

"Football is a game of mistakes. The team that makes fewer mistakes in a game gets three points. We still have many things to fix. But today we worked until the end of the whistle as the winning goal came in the 92nd minute. We saw how the players of the team were believing. In the last 10 minutes, we created two or three very good chances. We are believing and have a good group. We believe we can be among the top six."

Cleiton's thoughts before taking the free-kick

Cleiton told what was going on in his mind before taking the winning free kick. He said he was very positive about getting something out of the free kick. He said:

"I was trying to be positive and have scored some goals from free-kicks. I have already scored from a free-kick this season in the Durand Cup. Last year also I scored some free-kick goals. When I went to take the free-kick, my thoughts were positive."

On winning for the first time at home this season

The Brazilian expressed his happiness regarding the reception that the team got after the win. He said:

"It was very good to hear the crowd today. After the game, they showed how they can support the team. This was very important for us."