Carles Cuadrat: We are fighting for title while many teams are on holidays

The Blues look to get past the sorrows of their AFC Cup exit as they host ATK on Sunday.

Defending champions Bengaluru FC host two-time champions ATK in the first leg of the second semi-final of the Indian Super League. The Blues come into this one on the back of an AFC Cup exit and return to the league to defend their title. The Carles Cuadrat-led side have had a rather vague season with plenty of ups and downs, as the side became the first Indian club to bow out of the AFC Cup playoffs stage. The Blues would look to shake off the disappointment and put up a show in front of their home crowd for one last time this season. [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

Coach's Corner

Bengaluru FC head coach Carles Cuadrat along with custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu attended the press conference ahead of the team's semi-final bout. The Spaniard stressed that the side would go into this fixture with a clean slate and wouldn't be bothered about past results. Carles Cuadrat said, "The games that were played in the past don't count. It's a 180-minute game because it will be over two legs, so it will be a completely different story than what was happening here last week. We cannot think about the past games against them, it will be a new situation." The coach heaped praise on his side for reaching the playoffs for the third consecutive season and is confident of going the distance, despite the poor results that have been haunting the Blues. Carles Cuadrat said, “I always defend my players. I say that they are a winners' team and it’s a fact that they are. For the third season in a row we are able to fight for the title, when there are a lot of teams that are already on holidays." "It’s not a lot to try and convince my players to be competitive and give their 100% in the game because they know that. They know that it’s a different competition and that we are three games far away from becoming champions. We’re just trying to do things to make it possible and not punish ourselves because of the bad things we were doing before." Bengaluru FC had the backing of the fans in the second leg of the semi-finals for the past two years. However, this season, the Blues play the first leg at home and will miss the support of the home fans for the second. The coach shared his thoughts on this, he said “We know at home we always have the support of the fans. It was great to play the semi-finals at home the last two times. But, it doesn’t give success for sure, we saw last week against Maziya S&RC." "These things can affect, but at the end of 180 minutes, the best team is the one who is going on and that’s what we are trying, to be the best and to get to the final."

On ATK

“They are a very offensive team, they prefer to go for the counter-attack. These semi-finals are very interesting. One side we have two very offensive teams (FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC), that concede a lot of goals at the same time. On the other side, we have a tactical battle between two teams (Bengaluru FC and ATK) that work a lot in defence," Carles Cuadrat concluded. The Blues' goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu spoke about the mood in the dressing room after the team's AFC Cup exit. "Things didn't work out for us in the AFC Cup. We were disappointed and very hurt by it. The message in the dressing room was to pick ourselves up and focus on the challenge ahead to try to salvage something out of the season." “The only message in the dressing room is to keep things normal, just the way they are and not make it very special. I believe that if you have the normal mentality and you go with less expectations from yourself, you are more focused. I try to joke around and keep things light when I am with the young players and make sure they are focused for the game." Sandhu holds the record for the most clean-sheets in a season and has been the highlight for the Blues this campaign, as the forwards failed to bring in goals. The custodian shared his thoughts on the same, “I don’t think of it as pressure. We have been trying to do our jobs. This season we’ve been fortunate with having 10 clean-sheets and we have worked really hard for it. The goals will come, the most important thing is to keep trying."

On Fixtures

“The good thing for us was that a lot of games happened at the end of the season, if it had happened at the beginning of the season it might have affected differently. As players we were already conditioned to handle such situations and we had good young players as well who helped us in some of the games. I think more games are good for any team and we were very fortunate to have that this season.” [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] The shot-stopper spoke about playing the first leg at home and how it will affect the team. He said, “The situation is different, but I believe that if we go with a strong mentality, it won’t make a huge difference. The team is very capable of handling situations at home as well as away from home. I hope we are up for the job and go out all guns blazing”.

Team News

Besides Semboi Haokip and Eugeneson Lyngdoh, the Blues have a full squad to choose from ahead of the semi-final.

Probable Lineup

Gurpreet (GK), Nishu, Juanan, Bheke, Khabra; Paartalu, Suresh, Dimas; Chhetri, Brown, Perdomo.

Head-To-Head

Bengaluru FC were maintaining a clear record against ATK until their first meeting earlier this season, when ATK grabbed their maiden victory in this fixture. Both sides have met each other six times, ATK have just one win, whereas the Blues have four and one fixture ended in a draw.

Broadcast

The game will be played at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday. It will be broadcast on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD. It will also be available to stream on Hotstar and Jio TV.