Jorge Costa: I am sure Hyderabad FC will create a lot of problems for us

The Mumbai City FC boss also revealed that his primary objective is to finish in the top four positions of the league.

Mumbai City FC will be on the road to face off against Hyderabad FC at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. A win will help the Islanders break into the top four of the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 table and the team will back themselves to get the job done against a Hyderabad side, who are currently at the bottom of the table and has struggled this season. Ahead of the game, Mumbai City FC head coach Jorge Costa interacted in the pre-match press conference.

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Speaking about the importance of a win from the tie for his team, Mumbai head coach Jorge Costa stated, “It’s a very important match for us. We have been aiming to finish in the top four since the beginning of the season. Now, with so few matches left, we can’t afford to make any mistakes. We need the three points. It’s one of the games we must win. We need to go back home with three points. But to do that, we need to focus and work hard.”

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Highlights: Mumbai City FC registered a win against Hyderabad FC in the reverse fixture

Jorge Costa, however, noted that his players can’t afford to look at Hyderabad’s league position and take them lightly. “If you look at the table, they are at the bottom of the table. So, it may seem they aren’t performing well. But if you see all the games they have played, you can see it’s not entirely true. In the last match, they created a lot of chances to score, but unfortunately they couldn’t win,” Jorge Costa said.

“I have talked to my players. We must respect them. They have very good players, very good foreigners. I am sure they will create a lot of problems for us in the match but we have to work hard and overcome them to win the three points,” the Portuguese added.

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Asked if he was eyeing to challenge ATK FC, Bengaluru FC and FC Goa for a spot in the top three as well, Costa maintained, “We want to finish in the top four. It’s not easy, but I am confident we can do it. If we can be in the top four, I will be happy. If we finish higher up the table, even better. But we have to take it step by step, game by game.”

Costa was accompanied by midfielder Bidyananda Singh at the briefing. The player referred to Mumbai’s win against reigning champions Bengaluru in their last outing and stated, “The victory against Bengaluru gave the team confidence and we will try to bring that into the match against Hyderabad FC.”

Team News

Apart from Paulo Machado who is out for the season with an injury, Mumbai City FC will have a fully fit squad against Hyderabad FC.

Probable Lineup

Amrinder (GK), Golui, Pratik, Grgic, Bose, Das, Larbi, Borges, Sougou, Carlos, Chermiti

Broadcast

The game will commence from 7:30 PM IST on Friday evening. It will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD. It will also be available to stream on Hotstar and Jio TV.