Bengaluru and Goa have a lot of quality in midfield- Carles Cuadrat

The Blues reached the title-deciding clash last season too, losing to Chennaiyin FC.

Carles Cuadrat goes into his second final but this time as a manager, and he will be looking to make his mark in the ISL final clash against FC Goa.

Before the match, he spoke to the media. He started the press conference looking at the game and assessing the styles, saying, "Both teams have a lot of quality in midfield and there will be a battle for the possession. The two strikers Miku and Coro will also be against the two best defences."

When asked about how he looks at the final and what his team looks like going into the game, Carles replied, "We have to plan to play with three defenders as well as four defenders and look at the game according to the situation."

He then went on to speak about the final that Bengaluru lost in spite of being favourites for the game. He shared his thoughts saying, "Losing last season was a learning experience for the players. Once you learn to lose and dealing with the pressure, you grow.

"Of course it was frustrating to lose but we as coaches and players need to learn to deal with frustration. You can work very hard but you never know where the momentum shifts. It's the magic of football, like it happened in the Champions League Final of 1999," quipped the Spaniard.

The impact of having new champions in India was what Carles then spoke about, saying, "I think its very good for Indian football that they will have a new champion. It brings more happiness to more parts of the country."

He then voiced his views in tandem with Parth Jindal's view on Mumbai Football Area hosting the final saying, "Everyone has their own idea, but this kind of game can attract a lot more people. this is a game that can get 30000 people, and I would like to get 30000 people to watch the game and for the fans to see the game."

Federico Gallego suffered a horrific injury while trying to defend against Miku in the second leg of the semi-final. The tackle of Gallego for dispossessing Miku was sharp, but the NorthEast player had to pray the price of showing courage. Meanwhile, the NorthEast officials blamed Miku and Chhetri for the same, so much that they have lodged a complaint against the two.

Cuadrat defended his players claiming that they would not do anything that's unethical. He stated, "It's very clear that people suspecting Miku and Chhetri for the Gallego injury have no idea about football. We are football people and we know what's against the ethics of the game."

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Concluding the talk Cuadrat said, "In any final, there are few key players. We have Gurpreet, Dimas, Sunil and others but the problem is that Goa as well have such quality players (laughs)."

Team News

Bengaluru FC

Bengaluru have Erik Paartalu out of the game due to the injury sustained earlier in the season.

FC Goa

FC Goa have no injury issues and will have a full squad for the game.

Probable Lineups

Bengaluru FC

Gurpreet (GK), Juanan, Serran, Bheke, Harmanjot, Nishu, Dimas, Chhetri, Xisco, Miku, Udanta.

FC Goa

Naveen (GK), Seriton, Pena, Fall, Mandar, Lenny, Jahouh, Bedia, Brandon, Jackichand, Corominas.

Did You Know?

• Goa have three players in the top five passers of the league - Ahmed Jahouh, Edu Bedia and Lenny Rodrigues in the same order.
• Gurpreet leads the Golden Glove rankings, having conceded once every 90 minutes.
• FC Goa have the most clean sheets in the league - 8.

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Broadcast

The match will take place on Sunday at 7:30 PM at Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai. On television, the match will be broadcast live on Star Sports. Meanwhile, it will also be streamed on Hotstar and Jio TV.