Proud of what we have been able to do, says Mumbai City FC boss Des Buckingham

The Islanders secured a 3-1 win over the Men in Steel.

Des Buckingham's Mumbai City FC have created history by qualifying for the AFC Champions League for the second time, after a scintillating 3-1 win over rivals Jamshedpur FC. The Islanders were easily the better team throughout the game and claimed a deserved win over Aidy’s men, who despite their best efforts, succumbed to Mumbai’s constant pressure.

After the delightful win, Mumbai City head coach Des spoke to the media. This is what he said:

Delighted with team’s qualification

When asked to describe his feelings over qualifying for the Champions League once again, Des had this to say.

“I feel extremely proud to be able to go and represent not just our club but Indian football on the highest level of club football in Asia, the Champions League. So very proud of what we have been able to do and what lies in front of us, the opportunity, and it is a very exciting one now. So when I look back across the 12 months and I look back from the champions league where we won two games, we drew the third, so we got three results out of six and finished second in the group, made the Durand Cup final, we won the league and now we've won this game. The full cycle of the last 12 months has been a very good journey and it's not exciting what's in front of us next year already.” Des Buckingham exclaimed.

Nervy moments following Jamshedpur FC’s goal

Mumbai City FC were denied from a comfortable win, following Eli Sabia’s headed goal in the final stages of the game, which kept the Islanders on their toes in the final few minutes. When asked about his takeaways from his team’s attitude in holding onto their lead, the coach had this to say.

“We know their threats, they've got some good players, and they're very good from set plays and that's what they've scored from, but the pleasing thing is that this group does very little panic, wherever it was the players that were still on the pitch, or the changes we made at that time, they're very clear on what we want to do and how we want to do it, but as long as we stay true to that, it's calm and clear,” Des Buckingham said.

Super Cup plans

When asked about his views on the forthcoming Super Cup, Des Buckingham answered, “Haven't really looked at it too much, I've been very much focused on this game, we travel back to Mumbai tomorrow, and we'll see now what we do and how we approach the super Cup, I will see what players we have available for that but I'm looking forward to coming back, spending some more time here, because every time we come to Kerala, we're greeted extremely well, and then the atmosphere that was created today in the stadium, so very much looking forward to coming back.”