Antonio Lopez Habas: I know how good a coach Antonio Iriondo is

The ATK boss also revealed that he feels Jamshedpur FC have a chance to qualify for the playoffs.

ATK travel to the Steel City with hopes of regaining their spot at the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) when they face Jamshedpur FC on Sunday. With the league stages having entered into the business end, the Kolkata giants can’t afford to drop points now, if they’re to claim that elusive top spot at the end of the campaign. Ahead of the game, ATK head coach Antonio Lopez Habas interacted with the media in the pre-match press conference.

Antonio Lopez Habas knows how much of a challenging task it’ll be for his side on Sunday and voiced his appreciation for Jamshedpur FC, even touting them to be still in the running for the playoffs. “I have maximum respect for Jamshedpur. I know how good a coach Antonio (Iriondo) is and the team is playing good football. They have a possibility to qualify for the playoffs,” he began.

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“They started the season very well, but it’s not possible to keep up the same level of performance throughout the season. We respect the opponent and now everything gets decided tomorrow on the ground,” the Spaniard added.

Anotnio Lopez Habas indicated that ATK’s drop in performance levels on occasions could be due to the fatigue of playing games so regularly. “The last few matches in the competition are always the most difficult, as the teams are limited by the stress. This nervousness at times is not good for football. Maybe we can play faster, but the team doesn’t get enough rest to perform at its peak. It’s very difficult to keep a balance during the 90 minutes,” Antonio Lopez Habas explained.

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Assistant coach Manuel Cascallana shot down claims that ATK are struggling to keep out goals towards the end of games and mirrored his boss in pointing out how difficult the league has become. He said, “We haven’t conceded goals in the last minutes, but are scoring goals towards the end. It’s a very competitive league with so many matches. We’re playing matches every 4-5 days. It’s difficult to defend and difficult to attack, but as long as we’re winning the three points it’s all good.”

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Striker David Williams, who is now fit for action expressed his delight at returning to fitness and exclaimed, “Yes, I’m feeling fit. I’m in the squad. I’ll train today and see what the outcome of that is. I’m raring to go, got a lot of energy and am looking forward to playing some sort of football tomorrow.”

Team News

David Williams is back in contention, but Pronay Halder is still nursing an injury and hasn’t travelled with the team to Jamshedpur. Otherwise, everyone else is fit for the game on Sunday.

Head-to-Head

ATK have faced Jamshedpur FC five times in the ISL, winning twice while losing one as well. The other two games have been draws.

Probable Lineup

Arindam, Prabir, Kotal, Agus, Rathi, Soosairaj, Sosa, Javi, Rane, Williams, Krishna.

Broadcast

The game will be played at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur on Sunday. It will be telecast on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD. It will be available to stream on Hotstar and Jio TV.