ISL 2025-26: "We can become champions, and my mind is positive", Sergio Lobera remains optimistic ahead of the title deciding clash between Mohun Bagan SG & SC Delhi

Mohun Bagan SG needs to win the game against SC Delhi

Mohun Bagan SG are hoping that luck shines down on them when they face SC Delhi in their final match of the 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) campaign at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, on Thursday (21 May 2026). With the Mariners tied on the same points as league leaders East Bengal, who are leading by superior goal difference, they need a high-scoring win over Delhi and hope their rivals drop points in their final game to win the title.

Ahead of the clash, Sergio Lobera insisted that he’s in a positive mood and stated, “I always try to be positive and fight until the end when the chance is there. We can become champions tomorrow, but of course, it’s not easy. We can become champions, and my mind is positive. We need to try to believe and fight until the end, and that is my mentality for the game.”

Mentality and all-out approach against SC Delhi?

When asked about what his side’s mentality must be heading into the game.

Sergio Lobera stated: “Believing! We need to believe. To be honest, we are not in the scenario we wanted to be, but there are options, and when there are options, we need to believe and fight to achieve them. We need to fight and win the game. We need to fight to be able to become champions, which is a possible scenario.”

With Mohun Bagan SG needing to score many goals (at least six more to reach East Bengal’s tally), Lobera was quizzed on whether he’ll go with an all-out attack approach for the game.

He replied: “In my mind, it’s to have maximum respect for the opponent, and we’ll play against a very good opponent. They’re playing very well, they’re showing good potential in their first season in the competition.”

“I like how they play brave football, and we can’t win if we’re not in our 100%. Of course, we want to win the game, and we need to realise that the goal difference can be a factor in the title race. In football, everything is possible. We need to try to do our best, winning the game is the most important thing, but we also must think that it’ll be in our hands if we can score many goals. It’s not easy, but also not impossible,” he also added.

Sergio Lobera is definitely not taking SC Delhi’s threat lightly, as he praised them ahead of the meeting.

He explained: “They are a very good opponent. I love how they are playing football. For me, Punjab FC and SC Delhi are the teams that try to play good football in the ISL, and I love their kind of football.”

“They are brave, they are not under pressure, and they try to build when they have the ball to be smart in creating chances. They are good at transitions. This is why I’m saying that if we feel it’ll be an easy game, it’ll be a big mistake from us. We need to be serious, realise the level of the opponent and give maximum respect to them,” he also added.

Special training to convert goals & set-pieces

When asked if he’s giving any special training to the strikers to convert their chances better for this game and the role of set-pieces in it.

He quipped, “For sure, everyone in the team knows what we need to do. We need to plan accordingly to achieve our target. We have maximum respect for the opponent, but we must keep in mind the goal difference scenario. We have spoken about this, and the players are smart enough to know how to manage these situations. We are working on our goal conversion. I’ll speak to the players before the game, but the players are ambitious, and they’re the first ones to want to win the trophy. We know what we must do in this moment if we want to get to our target.”

“I realise that set-pieces can be decisive. There are many equal teams, and goals from set-pieces can change everything. We scored a goal from a corner in the last game, and that helps us keep an option to become champions tomorrow. Scoring from set-piece sis something we can do better; we can improve from that. Let’s see if we can score from corners tomorrow. We’ve had many corners, and we could’ve done better with them. Set-pieces can be decisive to win games and to win trophies,” Sergio Lobera also claimed.

Philosophy and motivation for the final game

Sergio Lobera refuses to claim that his Mohun Bagan SG players have failed to adapt to his philosophy of wanting to win matches by 6-2 margins.

He stated: “I feel they are very smart and know my philosophy. We’ve had many chances to score, but we need to improve in the balance. In the last game, we could’ve scored more goals, but they could also score goals. It’s not about attacking players or finishing actions; it’s about finding the balance in the game. When you play with an attacking mentality, you are taking risks, and you give space to the opponent, and you can suffer for that. This has happened to us in some games. The mentality is the same, but the most difficult thing for me is when you cannot generate chances. If you cannot generate chances or arrive at the opponent’s goal, that is troublesome.”

“We’ve had chances to score more goals in recent games, we’ve had chances to hurt the opponents in some games, but we haven’t scored enough. But it’s not about just conversion; it’s to try to find the balance; we also need to limit the chances the opponents get against us. My philosophy doesn’t change, but sometimes, playing against quality opponents, they also play to win. When they play against us, it’s not easy to find spaces, and they defend well. The opponent has a plan as well, and sometimes, you see when they play against Mohun Bagan, they play with a packed defensive line with many players. It’s not easy to score five goals in each game against such opponents,” Sergio Lobera further stated.

Finally, when asked about the motivation levels of his players to win the SC Delhi game by a large margin.

Lobera stated: “I have the kind of professionals who don’t need extra motivation. They know what it means for us to get to the target of winning trophies. I don’t need to do anything special to motivate my players.”

“My job is more in tactical situations to try to explain to them about the opponents and take advantage of our potential than to motivate the players. The players are ready for the challenge and always have the highest level of motivation because they realise very well the kind of club they are playing for,” the Spaniard finished with.

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