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In their second final, it was a second title for Chennaiyin FC as they triumphed at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday evening to emerge champions of the 2017/18 Indian Super League season. Chennaiyin beat the home side, Bengaluru FC 3-2 with two goals coming from their central defender Mailson Alves.
After the match, John Gregory, head coach of Chennaiyin, was delighted with the result that saw the club become 2-time champions. Bengaluru took the lead through Sunil Chhetri, but Mailson’s two goals saw them go into halftime with the lead.
The second of those goals came just before the interval and Bengaluru head coach Albert Roca had admitted that it was a huge blow. Gregory too felt it was a decisive moment.
“To go into halftime having just taken the lead after going 1-0 down was tremendous,” said Gregory. “I've been in that position myself (conceding just before halftime) and it really deflates you. The team talk changes. So I told my boys that if we keep a clean sheet in the second, we win the game. We needed to make sure there was no way back for them.”
He praised his defender for putting away the chances too: “Big man (Mailson) had scored twice all season, but has had lot of opportunities. Today he couldn't have connected any better for both goals, which were almost identical.”
Bengaluru scored one to make it 2-3, but with not much time left for another.Gregory said they were “delighted to hear the final whistle” after a long season. This season has seen the league become longer and spread out over more months and Gregory felt “the format has worked out very well".
One of those who'd expressed his unhappiness over the format (a playoffs after a league phase) was Bengaluru keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who in an on-field interview right after the match said, “We are champions because we won the league.”
Asked for his take on the matter, he said: “A large amount of countries use this format. Playoffs were introduced in the UK about 20 years ago. So I was honestly disappointed to hear his words. We won the cup is what I know.”
About the game, Gregory said the lineup changes from his counterpart did have an effect on the game. Gregory said: “Albert changed his lineup, went with three big defenders and two wingbacks. Sunil (Chhetri) played closer to Miku. We did expect this may happen and they made it difficult for Nelson and Francis.”
But he said the work put in by his side ultimately paid off: “The first requirement in our team for anyone who wants to play is that you need to work hard. And we did that. Maybe we didn't take care of the ball that well in the first half. But we knew we'll get our chances with the system they played. We got the breaks at the right moments.”
He emphatically stated: “We showed a lot of balls. We don't let anything bother us. This was a big obstacle, playing against the home team in a final. They are just an incredible group of players.”
He went on to point out that team captain Henrique Sereno braved an injury to soldier on in the second period. “Sereno was injured in the second half. He wanted to come off, then looked to continue, then again felt like coming off, but kept asking me for 10 more minutes every time and eventually finished the game. It was a great effort by him.”
Turning to celebrations, Gregory said he had no clue what the plan would be, but did say that there would be celebrations back at the hotel Saturday night. “We'll certainly celebrate at the hotel. As you get older, you enjoy these moments better when you're sober,” joked the Englishman.
He believes it will take some more time for the achievement to sink in for him and his players and talked about the emotions surrounding it.
“It's still not sunk in honestly. When we all came over in September, we never thought we'd be here. Yes, we all had wishes, but nothing more. But here we are, champions of the league. Haven't cried yet, perhaps it will happen tomorrow when I speak to my players,” said Gregory.
When asked about support from Chennaiyin’s ownership, Gregory was blunt in saying: “They leave me alone which is a huge compliment in itself. When you're in charge of a household, you like to be in control and they've allowed me to do that and just get on with my job,” he mentioned to round off proceedings.
