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FC Pune City are all set to play Mumbai City FC in the Maharashtra Derby at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai on Sunday. The visitors head into this one on the back of a hard-fought and crucial win against NorthEast United.
FC Pune City assistant coach, Vladica Grujic though reckons his side are not yet on the safe side. His team looks favorites to make it to the semi-finals of ISL but Grujic is not taking Mumbai granted and believes Pune still need to secure some more points in order to make it to the playoffs. They are currently second on the points table with 25 points from 14 games.
"Easy? No match is easy. No! Especially now, in this phase of the ISL. We still have 2-3 steps left to take come in the top 4. It's very difficult to play under pressure and I hope tomorrow we take our first of our 3 steps," he said.
Tomorrow's match will be an early start with the game set to begin at 5.30 pm. Both teams have usually played at 8 pm but Grujic believes nothing will change for his side despite the change in timings. Mumbai have been training early in the evening in order to get used to the conditions.
"Will it be a problem for us? No! If we play at 8pm or 5.30 pm or 10 am in the morning, we are ready every time. We are professionals and we cannot think about match timings," he opined.
The league committee is set to take a decision on Pune head coach, Ranko Popovic. The Serbian was sent to the stands during their last game for excessively arguing with the fourth official and Grujic hopes the committee will allow Popovic to once again take his place on the sidelines rather than in the stands.
"Every team in the world needs a head coach, we need him during the game. I am an assistant coach not the head coach. I hope he is close to the players tomorrow, I don't know what will happen," he stated.
