Jose Molina praises this player after inspired display in Punjab FC win in ISL

Losing Ezequiel Vidal to a red card turned out to be disastrous for Punjab.

Jose Molina’s Mohun Bagan went back to winning ways in the Indian Super League (ISL) with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Punjab FC on Thursday (26 December).

Despite falling behind through a Ricky Shabong goal in the 12th minute, the Mariners roared back in the second half through an Alberto Rodriguez brace and a Jamie Maclaren penalty to increase their lead on top of the ISL table.

Coach Jose Molina was especially delighted for Rodriguez getting a brace and had some special praise for him after the game: “I’m really happy for Alberto. I’m always saying this that of course we all want our strikers scoring goals, but we have a team in which every player can score in any moment. I don’t know, maybe like 10 players have scored for us this season or maybe more.

“Today, we could see Alberto scoring or even Subhasish Bose or Tom Aldred score. We want to have all the players available, but injuries or suspensions happen sometimes. That doesn’t matter for us, we have players ready to come in, play well and fight for Mohun Bagan to achieve a victory. I’m absolutely confident in all members of my squad,” he added.

A brace from defender Alberto Rodríguez helped Mohun Bagan win with ease against Punjab FC 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/aXfcjXPFkb

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) December 26, 2024

Molina was overall impressed with his side’s performance and the way they bounced back from the recent loss to FC Goa, as he claimed: “I’m happy with the performance of my team today, that’s clear. After the last defeat, you have to recover and win. We did that today. In the first 45 minutes, we dominated the game and we had enough chances to score but we weren’t successful in that final situation.

“In the second 45 minutes, we started strong and we couldn’t score in the beginning. After Vidal’s sending off, everything was a bit easier but we had to work a lot to create the chance to score goals. 3-1 is a good win and this is strong for us to go for the top position in the table,” he further stated.

Mohun Bagan capped off 2024 in brilliant fashion with the win over Punjab FC. They’ll now look to start 2025 on a positive note in their next game against Hyderabad FC at the Salt Lake Stadium on 2 January.

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