East Bengal head coach Oscar Bruzon rules out Jay Gupta for Durand Cup Kolkata derby

Jay Gupta has joined the East Bengal campaign ahead of the Kolkata Derby.

East Bengal are set to face their biggest challenge of the Durand Cup 2025 when they face off against rivals Mohun Bagan in the quarterfinal of the tournament at the Salt Lake Stadium (Kolkata) on Sunday, 17 August 2025.

The Red & Gold Brigade have dominated the group stages, but it’s now time for them to prove their quality against the toughest opponent they can face in the competition.

On Jay Gupta’s status for the Kolkata Derby

Ahead of the game, Oscar Bruzon basically confirmed that new signing Jay Gupta will not be able to play against Mohun Bagan despite starting training with the first team.

He stated: “If we see two days back, all our practice details have been leaked. We will have e a lot of threat on the pitch tomorrow, we have immense respect for our rivals, they are champions for a reason.

“They have high-quality players in all departments, even in the depth of the squad. It’s a good test for us to see how far or how close we are to the best team in India. I can confirm that Jay will not be there tomorrow,” he also added.

Need for a strong defensive structure for East Bengal

The Spanish coach also spoke about the importance of East Bengal maintaining a strong defensive organisation, especially in being better at defending in set pieces.

Oscar Bruzon claimed: “In the group stages, we showed a lot of dominance but our rivals weren’t as strong as they’ll be tomorrow. We are still very early in the season, and we are having a lot of new players.

“One of the things we must work is on set-pieces. If you see the goal we conceded in the last game, you’d see the bad positioning of the players in the set-piece. At this stage of the season, mistakes are normal and you need to take the players with a lot of coordination to improve. It’s good that we conceded goals as it enables us to put more emphasis on defensive set pieces. Tomorrow the set pieces can make a difference,” he further quipped.

Keeping emotions in check

Finally, Bruzon emphasized on the importance for his players to keep their emotions in check and remain cool throughout the intense derby to come out on top.

He explained, “We know that emotions will be high in the game. If we win, we’ll be heroes, and if we lose, we’ll be villains. It’s a game of emotions and of passion. What we can control is what we all do on the pitch; we need to maintain utmost concentration and avoid mistakes or showing up with too much desire.

“All our focus is on controlling the game; we know there are external factors to impact the performance of the game. I’ve told the players to be cool and enjoy the game; this is the biggest Asian derby, so we know what is around. But it’s time for us to focus on the factors that will decide the game and keep everything aside. I hope we can have a positive talk and our fans can consider us as heroes,” he finished off.

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