Malaysia coach Pau Marti reflects on India's strengths before international friendly

The international friendly will be held at the Gachibowli Stadium, Hyderabad

Malaysia are set to face off against India in an international friendly clash at the Gachibowli Stadium, Hyderabad on Monday (18 November). This will be the Blue Tigers’ final match of 2024 and a vital one considering that they haven’t won a single competitive match in the entire year.

The Malaysian side are coached by former Barcelona academy coach Pau Marti, who has a lot of knowledge and respect for India’s head coach Manolo Marquez.

On Indian head coach Manolo Marquez

Speaking on the possibility of facing off against the veteran gaffer, Marti stated: “I’m very excited to play against Manolo. He is a great coach with a lot of experience. We are from the same city in Catalonia and he coached many clubs at the different levels, from fourth, third, second and even LaLiga.

“For coaches in Barcelona, to have coaches like Manolo is an experience so I’m really happy to meet him tomorrow. He’s working in India for 3-4 years working with different clubs, he knows about the league and the players and he’ll make sure his team is very prepared to play against us,” he also added.

On winning momentum

The Harimau Malaya heads into this match having won four of their last five competitive matches, in comparison to India losing two of their last four and being winless in 2024. When asked if their winning momentum can be an extra booster, the Spaniard explained: “India has been not getting wins lately, but I don’t think they’ll be an easy game. India faced a lot of strong oppositions in 2024 and in every game they play they go with the mentality to win.

“This is a warning for us that we can’t take things lightly. FIFA ranking-wise, we are very similar. Last year, India was a bit lower but now we’re very close. This is a motivation to try and climb the FIFA rankings and get close to India. It’s now we approach this game, I don’t think India will look at the previous games. They’ll approach the game thinking how to beat us,” he added.

On history of this fixture

Finally, when asked about the history of this fixture with the two teams having faced each other 25 times in the past, Marti reflected: “History is important, but we have to focus on playing the game. We had a very good match in Malaysia last year with a 4-2 win. It was a balanced game as per the score, and India will now look to bounce back.

“It’s very tough to play here for us. We have to improve our away record, it’s very difficult to win games away from home and we expect a very difficult game against India. I don’t know when we won against India here, so this is a good challenge and opportunity for our team tomorrow,” he finished with.

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