I-League: I have a good rapport with Armando Colaco – East Bengal’s Ranti Martins

Ranti Martins

East Bengal’s star signing of the 2014-15 season so far, Ranti Martins, had his first practice session with the red-and-gold brigade on Monday and the Nigerian looked sharp as he scored in a practice match.

Ranti is already a legend in Indian football having finished top scorer in the top flight in four different seasons but at East Bengal he will be under pressure to deliver week-in-week-out, something which wasn’t the case in his previous Indian clubs – Dempo, United SC and Rangdajied United.

The forward though is looking forward to the challenge and believes playing under his previous mentor Armando Colaco will give him an edge.

“I know there will be expectations when you are part of a team of East Bengal’s stature. But I’m game for the challenge…I know what my job is. We had a lot of success while in Dempo. So, playing under Armando again will definitely be an advantage for me. We share a fine rapport,” Ranti was quoted saying by the Telegraph.

Ranti and Colaco won five I-League titles together at Dempo and the duo will be aiming to recreate that success at East Bengal, who haven’t won the Indian league title for a decade now.

The striker is fully focused on bringing success to East Bengal and wasn’t even able to watch his own country’s matches at the FIFA World Cup as he was gearing up for the pre-season.

“I am concentrating on hard, full-throttle practice to be successful now. And for that, I even didn’t watch a major part of Nigeria’s matches this World Cup,” he stated.