Jose Molina ponders on foreigners' rule ahead of AFC Champions League Two 2024-25

Mohun Bagan’s biggest test of the season will be to perform well in the AFC Champions League Two.

Mohun Bagan begin their 2024-25 AFC Champions League Two campaign against Tajikistan heavyweights FC Ravshan Kulob on Wednesday (18 September). The Mariners have been placed in a very challenging group also containing Qatari heavyweights Al-Wakrah as well as prominent Iran Pro League side Tractor SC.

That is exactly why the Kolkata heavyweights must positively begin their ACL Two campaign with a win at the Salt Lake Stadium. Interestingly, the Mariners can finally use the might of their quality foreign players properly in the continental competition. That is because the AFC have confirmed that there are no more limitations on how many foreign players a team can play in the competition.

At this moment, Mohun Bagan’s squad has six foreign players – with Nelson Reis to become the seventh once he flies into Kolkata. Head Coach Jose Molina gave an update on his foreigner contingency ahead of the Ravshan game, including an update on star forward Jamie Maclaren, who is yet to play.

Ahead of the clash, Jose Molina stated, “We’re still in doubt on Jamie Maclaren and Alberto, who got injured in the last match. He suffered some problems, we’ll see about that in training. The rest of them, Tom Aldred, Dimitri Petratos, Jason Cummings and Greg Stewart are all available.

“We’ll see what happens and I will put the best team possible from my point of view for the match. It doesn’t matter if all foreigners are starting or not, I’ll try to put the best squad possible for tomorrow’s match.”

Jose Molina has also been made aware that Ravshan might field as many as seven foreign players in their team for the opening ACL Two game. This includes a few physically imposing players like Ghanaian trio Samuel Ofori, midfielder David Mawutor and Siddiq Kamal Issah.

But the Spanish tactician isn’t worried about Ravshan physically troubling them or their superior foreigner numbers giving them a major advantage, stating, “They have the team they have, with the players they have. We have the squad we have. They’ll put their best team tomorrow, we’ll put our best team and if injuries can happen, that is a part of the game.

“I’m not thinking of them having physical advantages for having three Africans. We decided to sign a different kind of player because we feel are the best suited for our team, we are absolutely happy with the players we have and have the utmost confidence in them,” Jose Molin added.

Mohun Bagan will have to produce their best performance of the 2024-25 season so far to get all three points against Ravshan after starting their Indian Super League (ISL) campaign with a draw against Mumbai City.

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