Positive is we got a medal after long time: East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat

East Bengal lost by a goal

10 men Mohun Bagan defeat arch rivals East Bengal in the final of the 132nd edition of the Durand Cup. Mohun Bagan now becomes the most decorated club in Durand Cup history by winning a record 17th time.  

At the one-hour mark, Anirudh Thapa was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Javier Siverio, as he had already received a first yellow card earlier in the second half. At that point, the match was evenly poised, with both teams having their moments. However, it was Dimi Petratos who displayed exceptional individual skill, curling the ball brilliantly with his left foot past Prabhsukhan Gill in the 71st minute to secure victory for Mohun Bagan.

The match lived up to its billing, delivering the expected intensity and tactical battle. Mohun Bagan demonstrated remarkable composure and held their nerves under pressure. This victory served as a sweet revenge for them, considering they had suffered defeat to their rivals in the opening game of the campaign.

East Bengal nonetheless, had a very good tournament and remained unbeaten until the final. Head coach Carles Cuadrat shared his thoughts on the game in the post match presser .

Thoughts on the game

East Bengal head coach started off the presser by congratulating Mohun Bagan , “First of all congratulations to Mohun Bagan. It has been a great festival of football. We have seen the full stadium. Two passionate groups of fans and this is good for football. It was a nice football match with lots of emotions and tactical battles but unfortunately the result went against us. But this is very good for Indian football . We get a lot of support from TV and media and this is very very good for the city of Kolkata.”

Turning point of the game

When questioned about what the turning point of the game was,  Cuadrat replied  in a lighter tone, “ Undoubtedly the red card, we don’t need red card for the opposition because it is so easy to defend 10 against 11 . You just defend, put people in the box and wait for a counter attack. They have very talented players and in the absence of 1 talented player cost us. But I am very proud of my players. We were in the match when it was 11v11 being the most dangerous team on the pitch.”

Positives from the tournament and message to the fans

Carles Cuadrat spoke about the positives of the tournament and quoted, “The first positive is that we get a medal from the club after a long long time. The last medal the club received was in 2018 it was against Bengaluru and the last champion trophy was in 2012. It was a dark moment in the history of the club and I know how difficult it is for supporters, club, investors, people working in the club because we are losing against our big opponents. I think we have to be positive and understand that any project takes time."

Cuadrat added, "We have been three years in ISL and we have been not competing well. Not getting nothing else than the 9th place and Mohun Bagan also arrived three years ago. They do (have) powerful investments, bring brilliant players but only now they are reaching (winning) the titles. They have been arriving for the finals and semi finals for the first two editions but they get out of the Semi Final and only last season they become champions in ISL and now champions of Durand Cup. What I mean that it is important to arrive to the finals as they are learning process. Mohun Bagan lost final of 2020 and for sure it helps them in learning. For us, it has to be the same and this is a message to East Bengal supporters.”

On Juan Ferrando

Carles Cuadrat had praised his counterpart on his victory and said, “ He is at a difficult club, a club that demands trophies after  big investments. As I said, they have won the finals last time only by penalties and this time the score was 1-0 so what I mean to say that in the final the differences are very narrow. Congratulations to them again but they have their project and we have ours, we will fight for trophies.”

On the players registration fiasco

Mohun Bagan registered a squad of 34 players in the whole tournament while there were only 30 players allowed to be registered. Speaking on the controversy the Spaniard said, “We have to think about consistency in Indian Football  because somethings are happening, we have to be a little bit clever next season. We have 24 teams participating and 23  teams are playing with 30 players and Mohun Bagan have been playing with 34. So, maybe next season we play Bangladesh Army with B team and get 1 point and we can be in the group stage winning the next two games. We can do like this. Because everybody do like this with different rules. I would love to play B team players like Aman, tanmay, Mahitosh like Jassim, Vishnu. But we can use only 30 players Mohun Bagan can use 34. Best thing about that,” he concluded