Bengaluru FC skipper Namgyal Bhutia was pleased and very proud of his team as they were crowned champions of the inaugural edition of the Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) on Thursday.

Bengaluru FC had to avoid defeat against Kerala Blasters FC to clinch the crown, and over 90 minutes at the packed Benaulim Ground in Goa, the Blues managed to hold their rivals who finished with 16 points from their seven games. Bengaluru FC ended their campaign as the only unbeaten side in the RFDL with 19 points.

The Blues Skipper Bhutia believes platform like RFDL is good for players' development. While speaking to the RFDL Media Team after the match, he said, “This is our first trophy after two years, this is the first trophy we (have) won. I'm so happy for the team and very proud of my boys. In tournaments like RFDL, we develop as a team, and we develop individually also. We have shown that B team boys can go play for the senior team also," he said.

Bengaluru FC reserve team head coach remained grounded despite the great success.

In the post mast interaction, Naushad Moosa said,” I would like to thank Reliance for this wonderful platform. All the teams were very competitive. This tournament really helped us get some competitive games for us to understand the level of the players. It’s also a good platform for even the coaches.”

“I would like to congratulate Kerala, the way they played. They were the best team. I am proud of the boys, the way they played throughout the tournament,” he added.

On the other hand, the Kerala Blasters coach Tomasz Tchorz was disappointed with the final result, but he applauded his boys for the way they performed in the tournament. He said, “I think we played very well, We dominated the opponent and we created a lot of chances. If this was a longer league, we would see this game as a really beautiful game between two good opponents. The thing is that the league is very short in duration. Anybody can lose points and the goal difference is also important.”

“So this is the thing, if you're playing a short league, you have to sometimes have this additional luck, let's say, but from the football perspective, we were the best team. We have the best players. Even Bengaluru FC, I consider a very good team. I think we dominated completely, so I'm very happy from the football perspective,” he further added.

Related tags:

Kerala Blasters FCBengaluru FC Development League