Things look positive for Atlético de Kolkata, ahead of the crucial second leg against Mumbai City FC. They come into tomorrow’s match with a 3-2 lead from the first leg. More importantly, unlike other knockout competitions, Kolkata don’t need to be concerned about the away goals rule.
Atlético’s coach, José Molina was bullish about his side’s chances at the pre-match press conference.
“Our mentality is the same like in the first leg. We’re going to try to play the same game and score goals, suffer as less as possible. We’re going to try to win the game. We don’t know how Mumbai will play the game with their disadvantage,” he said.
Molina keen on focussing on the present
His side have lost just two matches this season, something which Molina believes will bode well when they take to the pitch tomorrow.
“It’s good to lose only 2 out of 15 matches but tomorrow is a different match. The past is the past. If we enter the finals, it will be because we played a good match tomorrow. I live in the present, not the past. If we can’t win well try to draw,” he stated.
Stick with the same approach
Despite conceding two goals in Kolkata, the coach said that his side’s approach will still be the same in the second leg
“We’re not going to play in a different way. We will play in the same way like we’ve playing since day one. Of course we know that we have a small advantage. It depends how the game progresses but we have to be calm,” he explained.
Not too much time to prepare
Kolkata were caught out twice from set pieces in the first leg, an aspect that Molina didn't have too much time to correct, “We didn’t have time to work on our set pieces. Yesterday was the recovery period and today we’ll have a training session in the stadium but not too much time to prepare.”
“We did talk about it. Forlan will not be on the pitch tomorrow and he was the man who took those two free kicks. That will maybe be an advantage to us,” he added.
Asked if he was happy about the fact that Forlan will not play tomorrow, Molina said, “I am not especially happy about that. I am focused on my team and that is the most important. I am not happy that Arnab Mondal can’t play.”
“But about the rival, I know everybody knows that Forlan is a top-class player. If he’s not in the pitch, maybe it might be good for us, maybe not. Mumbai have Sony Norde, Leo Costa, Chhetri, Cafu and Defederico. So, they have a lot of good attacking players,” he concluded.
FACT - Mumbai have played three matches without Diego Forlan this season but haven’t won any of them.
