Oscar Bruzon highlights how AFC Challenge success can impact East Bengal's performace in ISL

Oscar Bruzon praised his players for this success in AFC Challenge League.

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal continued their impressive turnaround in the 2024-25 season by progressing to the quarter-finals of the AFC Challenge League with a 3-2 win over Nejmeh SC. The Red & Gold Brigade took a 2-0 lead within the first 15 minutes through an own goal from Baba Abdulai Musah and Dimitrios Diamantakos’ side, before the Lebanese side made it 2-2.

But it was the Red & Gold Brigade that showed bigger resolve, with Diamantakos scoring a penalty in the 76th minute to seal a famous win for East Bengal. With this victory, the Kolkata heavyweights have topped their group and will play in the AFC Challenge League quarter-finals in March.

Despite this success, Oscar Bruzon is well aware that East Bengal remain at the bottom of the ISL table, having lost all six games so far. But he believes this boost in momentum will positively impact their form in the league, as Oscar Bruzon stated after the Nejmeh win: “Absolutely (easier to come back in ISL now). This is the importance of this competition.

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“Being alive in the final stages of this competition, which will happen in March-April, so having the chance of being involved in an international competition is going to be a boost for us and an additional motivation. When we return to the ISL, we know our situation so there is no time to relax and we need to be at our best from the very next game,” Oscar Bruzon also stated.

Bruzon praises East Bengal’s character in Nejmeh’s win

Oscar Bruzon also praised his side for ‘suffering’ and getting the win over Nejmeh, adding; “We might be having problems in the ISL, but the team understood that we need to fight and what is most important in AFC games is that you need to know how to suffer.

“It’s impossible to do minute games for 90 minutes, but it’s possible to understand during moments of the game how to come back, how to give your best against the good moments of the game, which we showed at the start of the game by scoring twice. They scored two goals and came very close in the second half, but in the last 20 minutes the game came towards our side,” Oscar Bruzon also quipped.

East Bengal are back in action on November 9 when they face off against Mohammedan Sporting in a ‘mini’ Kolkata Derby in their return to the ISL.

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