Antonio Lopez Habas calls out Inter Kashi management following Punjab FC loss

Inter Kashi suffered their fourth loss of the 2025/26 ISL season against Punjab FC.

Habas’ Inter Kashi travelled from Kolkata to Delhi to face Punjab FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium after winning their last encounter 1-0. The team from Kashi came into the game with high confidence, having won back-to-back ISL matches against Mohammedan SC and Chennaiyin FC.

However, their aspirations and optimism were dashed by Panagiotis Dilmperis’ Punjab FC, who easily defeated the visitors 3-0 at home. From the opening whistle to the last whistle, the Shers were the dominating and better team in terms of opportunities and possession.

Dani Ramirez opened the scoring for Punjab FC and turned the provider for the second goal, setting up Nsungusi to score. Bede Osuji scored a third to secure the victory for the hosts. While 3-0 is an impressive and admirable score in itself, if the Punjab FC strikers had been more clinical, they may have won by a large margin.

While losing after gaining momentum in the season with two consecutive wins is a difficult outcome for Inter Kashi, Habas will be more worried about how his team lost the game. Unlike the Habas team, they were absolutely poor and unorganised at the back, failing to replicate what they had achieved in the last two wins. 

Following the loss, Habas was due to address the media about the defeat and his players’ performances. However, the Spanish tactician came with a different perspective, and this is what he had to say.

Habas on the difficulties at Inter Kashi:

The post-match press conference showed us a different Habas, who was uninterested in discussing the players’ performances. He made an insightful observation concerning club management and the problems that players endure while playing for the team.

While Habas stressed that the staff and players give their all for the club, he also stated that it is difficult to compete in the ISL if the club’s employees do not receive their salaries.

“I want to say congratulations to Punjab FC, but I don’t want to talk about the match because Inter Kashi is in a very, very complicated situation with a lot of problems in the club. I don’t want to talk about the match. We need to talk about the situation of the players and staff with the owner of the club, because it’s impossible to compete in the ISL. This is my answer today.”

“I am very, very sad about this situation. We have been fighting since the last season 100%, and now it’s possible that the players and staff will not receive their salaries. It’s impossible,” insisted Habas.

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