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Marco Pezzaiuoli said his Blues were keen to end their 2021-22 Indian Super League season on a winning note, as they take bottom placed side SC East Bengal at the Tilak Maidan on Saturday. Bengaluru FC, out of the running for a spot in the playoffs, take on the Torchbearers who have won just one game all season.
“SC East Bengal are a good team, and you can see they are very different from the side that we faced when we met earlier in the season. Over the last few weeks, they’ve had games against tough opposition but they have all been tight matches. They have a new coach and some new foreign players who have made them a better squad. For us, we’ve already got more points than we did last season, and I’d like for us to finish with three more points,” said Marco Pezzaiuoli, speaking to the media on the eve of the game.
The reverse of Saturday’s fixture, which took place at the Bambolim in January, saw Bengaluru come from behind to claim a point against a side led out by Interim Head Coach Renedy Singh. An own-goal from Sourav Das restored parity for the Blues after Semboi Haokip found the net in the first half.
Pezzaiuoli also provided an update on the squad, as Danish Farooq returned to the fold after serving his one-match suspension. “There will be some changes to the team because there are still some players facing soreness in the muscles after returning to play competitive matches. Danish will join the team once again, but we still have some long term injuries. After the final training session, we will take a call on who will play for us, but the eleven that take the field will be the best from the training pitch,” said Pezzaiuoli.
The Bengaluru FC manager stressed that while the Blues were out of the running for the playoffs, there were plenty of positives to take from the season. “The important thing was to reach the playoffs, and we are all disappointed about that, but we’ve achieved a lot of things this season. We’ve brought a lot of new Indian players through the ranks and developed a new team with new foreigners, which is a step in the right direction,” Pezzaiuoli added.
Kick-off between the Blues and SC East Bengal is scheduled for 7.30pm and will be telecast live on the STAR Sports network, Disney+Hotstar and JioTV.
