FC Goa coach – Juan Ferrando addressed the media after narrowly missing out on his first Champions League win, as their clash against Al Rayyan ended in a stalemate courtesy to a last minute equalizer.
“Of course its difficult when you lose in the last minute, but the truth is, we played against a very good team. Its always a pleasure to play against teams like Persepolis FC, Al Wahda and Al Rayyan simply because these teams play a very attacking brand of football. For now its very important to control such mistakes because it was a very important game for us.
“As we all know the situation in India is very difficult at the moment, we were thinking that a win tonight would be a very special thing for all the Indian people. The players were talking about playing for India, but at the end this is football, and even a single mistake can cost you,” added Juan Ferrando.
The Gaffer also acknowledged the efforts put in by his men on the pitch as he added, “It’s necessary to talk with the players, they did a great job, of course we need to improve. We have one more opportunity next Thursday, against Al Wahda. Its difficult to prepare for the games, a lot of injuries, a lot more problems with the physical conditions but the medical staff, the fitness coach all are working very hard at the moment. This is the truth but we all are eyeing for the next game, ” said Juan with a glimmer of optimism.
The equalizer was indeed a painful moment for all the FC Goa fans, Coach Juan opined about the same as he mentioned, “I haven’t watched the replay of the last goal, but according to my opinion, we lost the ball in transitions. It’s difficult to make a quick shift from attacking to defending. Normally the difference between the teams from India and other teams like Al Rayyan is that the latter stay very close during the transitional play.”
“But it’s not possible to speak about the mistakes because I know my players are exhausted, last-minute conceding a goal was a terrible moment, but right now the only thing I can tell them in the dressing room is that I am very happy with your job, and of course we have to learn from this. It’s okay to do a mistake once, but we can’t repeat it again.”
“Overall it’s very good to play in this competition, the AFC Champions League, then when we are analyzing the game, we can decide about what’s the problem, what’d be the solution and then we can implement all those points on the pitch,” he concluded.
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