Juan Pedro Benali reveals half-time team talks after NorthEast United's comeback win against Hyderabad FC

Highlanders end five-year drought against Hyderabad FC with a stunning comeback win.

Juan Pedro Benali’s NorthEast United FC wrote a comeback story in the Indian Super League (ISL), 2024-25 season, defeating Hyderabad FC by a 2-5 scoreline on the 23rd of December, at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium. The Highlanders started with an attacking mindset, however, mistakes in the defensive half cost the team, leading them to concede two goals.

Edmilson Correia of Hyderabad FC, in the fifth minute of the game, with his solo effort, beat Gurmeet Singh on the near left side of the goalpost. In the 11th minute, Mohammed Ali Bemammer’s mistake in clearing the cross from Sourav cost the team for the second time. The ball reached Edmilson Correia in the center, and he netted with a perfect right-footed shot.

In the 18th minute of the game, Guillermo Fernández scored the first goal for the club, and the lead came down to 2-1. In the second half, the Highlanders came together and scored four goals to secure a win after two match losses.

Juan Pedro Benali’s message

Juan Pedro Benali, head coach of NorthEast United FC, talked about the halftime team talk in the post-match press conference. Juan Pedro Benali exclaimed, “Today we started very, very bad, sleeping. The grass was different for us. It was tough a little bit. We made two mistakes in the beginning, but the players reacted, and we went back to the game.”

In the half-time break, the Spanish coach appealed to his players to be NorthEast first. “Be North-East because in the first half we were not North-East. We just walked, we just let Hyderabad do whatever they wanted.”

“It’s like saying the two goals in the first ten minutes were like, hey, what’s going on? We started doubting. In the dressing room, we said, hey, just be ourselves, just be the Wolves, we know who we are. Just bite, just fight, just go for the ball, just play, do what we train and it happened in the second half. Three points,” Juan Pedro Benali added.

Jhukega nahi Saala! 🔥#StrongerAsOne #8States1United #HFCNEUFC pic.twitter.com/WOkR0j54Bh

— NorthEast United FC (@NEUtdFC) December 23, 2024

About conceding goals in second half

Juan Pedro Benali also talked about the team conceding goals. He opined that most of the goals his club conceded were because of sloppy moments. Juan opined, “If you take all the goals scored against us till now, many of them are individual mistakes. We say, defensively, the team is not good; it’s not true. It’s just some sloppy moments, sleeping moments, and they scored against us, and now I think it’s a long time we didn’t concede.”

“Normally they score against us between the 60th and 75th minute, and today no. It’s important, we could stop them,” Juan Pedro Benali added.

Thoughts on next game

Answering a question about being in the top six to qualify for the playoffs, Juan Pedro Benali opined, “I don’t think about that. We think that the next game is Mumbai. In football, if you start to look far away, you forget your nose and you get cut. They can cut your fingers.”

“After Mumbai, next game. We don’t know what will happen. Now, injuries start, yellow cards, red cards, and the players get tired. Many things can happen. We just need to be calm, focused, and fresh for the next game,” Juan Pedro Benali concluded.

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