Bartholomew Ogbeche, Chinglensana Singh excited as fans return

The duo expressed their thoughts ahead of the big final.

Hyderabad FC will lock horns with Kerala Blasters in the final game of the 2021-22 Indian Super League (ISL) season tomorrow. While this is HFC's first final, for KBFC it's their third, as a result of which the stakes for both teams are extremely high. Either way, both teams have experienced their share of ups and downs throughout the season and are therefore deserving occupiers of such prestigious spots in the final.

Ahead of the game, Hyderabad's Bartholomew Ogbeche and Chinglensana Singh spoke at a media interaction in Fatorda. Here are the excerpts:

Reason for shifting from Mumbai to Hyderabad

First up, Bartholomew Ogbeche was asked about his reasons for shifting from Mumbai City to Hyderabad FC. On this, he stated, "I don't think I've had a fantastic season. I can say that only if we win the title tomorrow. For now, I'll say I have had a good season, doing the things the team required of me.

"About joining the club, I had a talk with the coach (Manolo Marquez) but he didn't tell me anything in particular. I think he knew me very well before I came to the ISL and he also saw me play the last season. There wasn't anything in particular that the coaches were expecting from me, but we had a lot of talks and now I'm happy to be here."

On playing in younger side

Throughout their two seasons in the ISL so far, Hyderabad have been known for fielding young sides and nurturing such talents. This season as well, Chinglensana Singh has played besides two young full-backs in Akash Mishra and Asish Rai. Regarding this experience and the learnings from it, he opined, "For us, it's more of a unit.

"We work as a team. Initially, things didn't work out. But yes, Juanan is a proven player with experience in the league. He's one of the elites. I've learnt a lot from him regarding the game as well as other things. He's been really helpful and he's had a really good season for himself particularly, as well as all of us together.

Ogbeche on having experienced final before

Ogbeche is one of the few players who has played in the ISL final before as well. As a result, he was asked to share his thoughts on the experience as well as how and whether youngsters had approached him for advice on the same. The Nigerian expressed, "I have been fortunate enough to have been on this stage before. It's not an easy one and you need to earn this spot for coming this far. For the past couple of days, we've been dreaming of lifting the trophy. My advice to the players is to prepare for this game as if it is the last one of their lives. If we play as a team and stick to our plan, we have a lot of possibilities to be successful.

"But, we shouldn't think about what happens after 90 or 120 minutes. We should just think about the game and our best games so far to lift our spirits, or even things like listening to music or watching your favourite player. That was the way I prepared myself when I was fortunate enough to be the champion. That's the best thing we can do as a team -- put ourselves in the best possible situation to be successful."

On fans finally returning to stadium

Further, both players spoke about fans returning to the stadium after two long years and what their presence means to them.

On this, Singh initiated, "We've not played with fans in the stadiums for the last two seasons and now we're excited. It was so good to see on the ISL's social media handles that the tickets had been sold out. It is so motivating and I'm looking forward to tomorrow for a lot of excitement. So yes, the news that it's sold out and that the stadium is going to be full is exciting."

Ogbeche added, "Yes, it's challenging to play the last couple of seasons without them. About the news that they're back, it's huge. We want them to enjoy a good game and we'll do our best to put on a good show for them."

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