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The battle moves to the Fortress once again for Albert Roca’s men as they take on Mohun Bagan at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. The fixture, to be repeated at the same venue three days later in the AFC Cup, is one that’s had its share of history and the Spaniard said he hoped his side would rise to the occasion against the title contenders from Kolkata.
“It’s going to be a tough game as Bagan are fighting for the League and will be looking to get three points against us. We must be aggressive in our approach to make sure that we make something out of this,” said Roca, addressing the media at the pre-match press conference.
Having dropped points on the road against Chennai City FC, Roca believes that his side has had the wrong rub of the green in recent matches owing to poor finishing and dubious refereeing. “We’ve had some decisions go against us, which is unfortunate, but we must look to put our chances away to make sure that we are not in that position again. We are Bengaluru FC and we must fight hard to make sure that we get the three points tomorrow.”
Defender Rino Anto has resumed training with the first team and could feature on the bench for Roca while Serbian striker Marjan Jugovic is set to make his home debut for the Blues. “Marjan is a good striker and comes with experience from playing across the world and we are doing everything to get him in shape as soon as possible. We have been creating a lot of chances but have lacked the finishing and that is what we need to improve on as quickly as possible,” said Roca.
Between them, Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan have won the last three League campaigns, two of which have been decided at the Kanteerava.
The Mariners will be without defender Prabir Das and goalkeeper Debjit Majumder, who miss out through injury. But Sanjoy Sen said he was confident his squad would step up. “We’ve never relied on a single player so these injuries do not worry us. Bengaluru FC’s graph this season may not be the best but they are a team that can beat anyone on any given day,” said Sen.
Top scorer for Mohun Bagan in the I-League, Scottish striker Darryl Duffy makes a return to the squad after missing out in his side’s 2-2 draw against Mumbai FC earlier this week.
The match kicks off at 7.05pm and will be telecast live on TEN 2.
