Will try and do as much we can, says Des Buckingham ahead of ACL debut

The Islanders will begin their maiden AFC Champions League campaign against Al-Shabab on Friday.

Mumbai City will aim to script history as they go up against Saudi-based Al-Shabab in the AFC Champions League on 8th April. Des Buckingham's side had a below-par ISL 2021/22 campaign, as they could not even make it to the playoffs. They will be keen to not only erase their shortcomings from the league, but also to earn their name as the first Indian club to win a game in the ACL.

Head coach Des Buckingham and club vice-captain Mandar Rao Dessai shared their thoughts on the game in the pre-match press conference ahead of their first ACL fixture:

On witnessing different Mumbai City FC in ACL 

Mumbai City more or less stuck to their favored 4-2-3-1 formation for the majority of their league campaign. Despite resorting to a back three for a short while in one game, however, Des Buckingham has not really utilized fluidity in transitioning to a different setup. As that has often hurt his team and eventually came back to haunt them, the English manager hinted at a few things that might be done differently in the upcoming games:

“Yes, we’ve had two good opportunities to practice a couple of things, in terms of our playing style and how we want to go about things or different plans we may have to come up with against teams we’re going to come and play against. So, we’ve had two games where we practiced a couple of things, whether or not we use them to start with or whether or not we go to them as part of the gameplan during the game.

"There’s certainly different things we have worked on. The players won as a result of their performances in those games. So, the players are clear on what that looks like as well as being able to build on what we’ve seen in the ISL,” explained the 37-year-old coach.

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On having potentially open group

Mumbai City are part of Group B in the AFC Champions League and are joined by Al-Shabab, UAE side Al-Jazira and Iraq’s Air Force Club. Al-Shabab are not exactly at their strongest since they finished second in the league last year, with striker Odion Ighalo jumped ship to their rivals. Similarly, while Al-Jazira have star players like Ali Mabkhout and Khalfan Mubarak alongside set-piece specialist Milos Kosanovic, they can be punished on the break. Coach Des Buckingham responded to whether this gives them hope to not only put up a good show but win matches:

“I think it’s difficult to compare obviously last year’s competition and this year’s. You know whether it was FC Goa last year or us this year. But certainly, the teams that we’ll be competing against; we’ve had the fortune of being in Abu Dhabi the last couple of weeks and we’ve gone to watch Al-Jazira. We went to one of their games and watched that live. Then we went out here the other night. Al-Shabab were playing and we watched their game. So, we’ve had the fortune of watching both of those games live. 

"Although you might say they’re not playing well or picking up results like they have done previously, I can assure you the quality and the speed of their play, quality of their players is very good. When you see that with your own eyes and when you got to the stadium, it will be a challenge. But again, it’s not one we’re going to shy away from. It’s one I’m really excited with putting ourselves up against.

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"We’ll do everything we can as a staff group and as a playing group to not only go on and represent Mumbai as a club and a city, but what we’re also doing is representing as a football nation and we want to go and do that as well as we can. So, what those results look like, we do as much as we can to put ourselves in a strong position to take results and if we can back that up with our performances, then that’s something we’ll look to take away, ” explained the manager.

Mandar Rao Dessai on his season 

Mandar Rao Dessai was not exactly one of the stars of Mumbai City’s league campaign. He could not replicate his marvelous season with Goa when he led them to the final or even that of last term’s title-winning run for Mumbai. However, the former Gaurs' captain and current Islanders vice-captain feels he has worked to the best of his capabilities and will continue to do so.

“Yes, whenever we start off a season, we want ourselves to give our best throughout the season. We want the team to perform well and help the team to win games. I think that’s the most important thing for me. Whenever I got my chance I think I’ve given my best and that’s my goal as always. In the AFC (Champions League) also, I have the same goals,” stated the player.

Different the mental preparation for ACL

The AFC Champions League has Asia’s best clubs competing for the title and is the toughest competition on the continent. On that note, we asked Rao Dessai what kind of mental grooming the players need for playing in a tournament of this stature?

“Yes, it is completely different from you know, our league games because this is at a different level. It’s the Champions League and the quality is better. I think we have to prepare in a different way. All the players are excited and just waiting for the first game, so that we can do better, ” mentioned Mandar.

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