Sergio Lobera rues Mohun Bagan's inability to convert chances properly after losing ISL 2025-26 title

East Bengal clinch their first-ever ISL title after beating Inter Kashi FC

Mohun Bagan won their final match of the 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over SC Delhi at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, on Thursday (21 May 2026). Despite this victory, they witnessed their rivals East Bengal win their final game as well and clinch the ISL championship, with the Torchbearers’ superior goal difference helping them win the title.

A dejected Sergio Lobera was annoyed with how Mohun Bagan weren’t able to score more goals despite dominating the game.

As he stated: “You can watch the game and realise how we had a lot of chances to score goals and finally we won. In the previous games, we also had clear-cut chances to score, and we lost the title because of the goal difference. We should’ve taken advantage of chances not only today but also in previous games, in terms of being more clinical to score goals.”

Lobera frustrated with Mohun Bagan’s inefficiency in scoring

Sergio Lobera further insisted that Mohun Bagan should’ve done way better in converting chances in the first half, explaining: “What is clear is that I’m here as their coach and I assume my responsibilities. Finishing in second is a failure, and we can only apologise to our fans, because Mohun Bagan needs to be champions, and I cannot be happy with this situation now. How many chances did we have in the first half? In the second half, the situation affected the players as we played more, and the game became open.”

“I cannot be happy with the second half, but we played well in the first half, and we had many chances to score in the first half. We tried to defend the jersey as much as possible, we can only apologise to the fans as this club deserves more. We didn’t do our job well enough to claim the title,” he added.

Why did goals dry up for Mohun Bagan?

When asked about why Mohun Bagan’s goals dried up in the 2025-26 ISL despite scoring 14 goals in their first four matches, Sergio Lobera stated: “Finally, as a team, when you don’t generate chances, it’s a big problem. But when you create chances but cannot score, it’s about goal-scoring issues. We generated chances regularly, be it in the Bengaluru FC clash, be it against Jamshedpur where we had clear chances.”

“There’s no point trying to find excuses now or complain about how our goal difference could’ve been more, as we generated more chances and we didn’t score. I’m not here to find excuses, I’m here to assume responsibility as the coach, and when you don’t achieve the target, you cannot be happy,” he also quipped.

Set-pieces a cause of concern for Mohun Bagan

Sergio Lobera also admitted that his side’s set-piece threat was reasonably lowered this season, claiming: “We didn’t score in set-pieces because maybe we could’ve worked better and improved. I’ll assume the responsibility for that as the coach. If we miss chances one-on-one against a goalkeeper, for that I’ll take responsibility as well.”

What lies in the future for Sergio Lobera?

Finally, when asked about his future at the club as their head coach, Sergio Lobera replied: “I’m very sad, disappointed and frustrated with this result. Our supporters and this club deserve more, and now is not the moment to speak about my future. What is clear is that I’m not happy because we didn’t do our job.”

“I came here to become champion and I cannot be happy as we failed to do that. Speaking about the future doesn’t matter now,” he finished with.

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