Happy to have Ogbeche in team, says delighted Manolo Marquez

It was a five-star performance by the Nizams that extends their lead at the top of the table.

Hyderabad FC secured another three points with a 5-0 win over NorthEast United in the Indian Super League 2021-22. The result keeps them at the top of the league table, with 26 points. Manolo Marquez is doing an exceptional job at the club, who are now in the driving seat to finish in the playoffs positions for the first time.

Furthermore, the biggest moment of the game was perhaps the brace by Bartholomew Ogbeche. He equalled the record of 48 goals held by Sunil Chhetri and Ferran Corominas with his first strike. Later, he overtook the pair with his second to record 49 goals in the ISL, the highest of all-time.

Post the result and dismantling a struggling NEUFC side, the HFC boss spoke to the media. Here is what he had to say in the post-match press conference: 

Better in second half

Manolo Marquez was not too happy with the performance in the first half, even though he termed it as clinical. He was rather pleased with the second half display and said, “I think we played one of the worst first half in the competition, but we were very clinical in set-pieces.

"In the second half, the team managed the game very well. Obviously, when the other team attacks, we have good players that can take advantage of the spaces and I think the team was very good in the second half.”

On Bartholomew Ogbeche

The result was sweeter due to the individual achievement of Ogbeche, who became the all-time leading ISL goalscorer. Speaking on the player and his impact, the head coach said, “He scores goals with four different teams in four different seasons.

"He is a great player for our team. We are very happy that Bart plays in our team. At this moment, Coro is not here, but Sunil and Bart will score more goals and let us see how they finish.”

Impressed with squad players

"We need the maximum players as possible in good shape because it's a difficult moment in the tournament. We had the intention of playing Yasir (Mohammad), he needs minutes after recovering from injury. I think Nim (Dorjee Tamang) played well. I am very happy with the players who usually play fewer minutes because they are showing in training that they are fighting every day to be in the starting lineup.

“In my opinion, NEUFC played better in open play than us. In the second half, we managed open play better and I think we are a team that is difficult to beat even when we don’t play very good. We have six games more and are happy to be on top. There are a lot of teams that are fighting for the same goal as Hyderabad,” the tactician concluded while speaking in regard to the potential of his team and the remaining part of the season.

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