Molina happy with the tag of 'underdogs' ahead of semis

The Spaniard said his team has no special plans for Mumbai marquee Diego Forlan…

Atletico de Kolkata coach Jose Molina is not too worried about the ‘underdogs’ tag that has been given to them ahead of their semi-final first leg clash against Mumbai City FC here at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium on Saturday.

“I don’t think about that too much. Maybe to you (pointing at journalists) but I don’t know. I am not worried about that. It doesn’t matter if we are favourites or not. I don’t lose my sleep thinking if we are favourites or not. My aim is to play in the best way and try to win the Final,” the Spaniard said.

ATK finished fourth while Mumbai topped the league table en route to the playoffs. About Diego Forlan and if there are any special plans for the star marquee who scored a hat-trick against Kerala Blasters, Molina said, “No special plan for him. He is just like the other 10 players. You cannot set individual plans for any player.”

“Forlan will not play alone on the pitch. He will have ten teammates. Then we have to defend as a team and not against one player. We will try to defend even if they are strong players. Forlan has scored off a deflection (in Mumbai’s league game here) so even if you have plan sometimes it doesn’t matter” Molina added.

ATK have drawn eight of their 14 league games. But Molina said they never play for a draw and despite the away-goal rule not prevailing in the ISL, they will go all out for a win tomorrow.

“We never play for a draw. We play to win always. If we can’t win, we will try to draw. We don’t want to lose but we try to win every time we are on the ground.”

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Molina said there are no injury concerns except India centre-back Arnab Mondal who has a slight ‘problem. Today we have no injury worries. Only problem is with Arnab Mondal but nothing serious. He suffered a slight strain in the training today.”

Report by Khel Now Correspondent Kushankur Rony Rakshit. Sports passionate and content writer. He is big football and cricket fan.