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Marco Pezzaiuoli said his Bengaluru FC side will look to focus on their own results, as they take on ATK Mohun Bagan in their penultimate League stage encounter of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season, at the Fatorda, on Sunday. Bengaluru are currently two points adrift of the final playoff spot, currently occupied by Mumbai City FC who face Kerala Blasters later on Saturday night.
“ATK Mohun Bagan are one of the best teams in the League who have been playing some very good possession football since the new manager took over. But we are looking to focus on ourselves in this game, because these are three very important points for us to take,” Pezzaiuoli said, speaking to the press on the eve of the game.
When the two sides met earlier in the season, the game ended in a 3-3 draw and Pezzaiuoli believes his side has what it takes to get across the line this time around. “ATK are a very good team but they have their weaknesses, and we have shown in the last time met that we can take advantage of those aspects. We played a lot of vertical and diagonal passes against Odisha last week and were in complete control of the game. We will need to do the same against ATK.”
With Danish Farooq suspended and Suresh Wangjam set to miss out on the rest of the campaign, Pezzaiuoli said he was buoyed by the return of several players who had missed out on games through the season, and said he was confident they would step up to the occasion.
“It’s always difficult to lose players but it is also interesting for a coach, because we have someone else stepping in who can bring different qualities to the team. Whoever starts the game for us tomorrow will be players who deserve to be there.”
ATK Mohun Bagan, meanwhile, will be without the services of Fijian striker Roy Krishna, who was shown a red card against Odisha. Sunday’s fixture at the Fatorda, rescheduled from January, will be one that the Blues’ will need to win to keep their hopes for a spot in the playoffs alive.
Kick-off at the JN Stadium is scheduled for 7.30pm and telecast will be available on the STAR Sports Network, JioTV and Disney+Hotstar.
