After the conclusion of the first international break of the 2018-19 season, the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) returns to the capital for a showdown between Delhi Dynamos FC and ATK on Wednesday. The home side enter the fixture after earning a point against FC Pune City in a 1-1 draw, while ATK have had a tricky start to the season having lost both of their opening matches.

Ahead of the encounter, indiansuperleague.com caught up the Lions’ captain Pritam Kotal, who would be raring to go against his former club after a fantastic personal display in the recent friendly against the People’s Republic of China.

Here are the excerpts from the exclusive interview:

Thoughts on the new team and the new coach.

Last year, we played under a Spanish coach and this year also, he is Spanish. So this is not a problem for us because as a player, you have to adapt quickly whenever you play and under any coach. So we are adapting and in the last match, we played very well. We missed some chances, so now, we will try to give our best for the next match and win the match.

What are your personal goals for this season?

I always set a goal before the league starts. My first goal is to be champion with Delhi Dynamos and as a player, I want to improve as much as I can.

What is it like playing against the team you won the Hero ISL title with?

Obviously, they are a very, very good team and they have a lot of experienced players like (Manuel) Lanzarote, Kalu Uche and then John Johnson in defence. So yes, it will be a tough match tomorrow and hopefully, we’ll give our best and get the result from the match.

What do you think has contributed to Delhi Dynamos’ impressive home form?

Obviously, it’s a team effort and we want more people coming to the stadium because I always believe that the 12th man is the supporter and the fans. So if more people are coming to the stadium and cheering for us, it’s good for the team.

Thoughts on the match against ATK

Obviously, it is a good match. It’s a tough match for us because it’s the second match and a home match and we play against ATK. So I’ll just say that we will give our best and we will play for the three points.

How was the experience on the team’s first trip to China?

It was a great experience for us before the AFC Asian Cup because they are a very good team and we played with them for the first time after 21 years. It was a great match and we played well there.

What were the team’s expectations before the international match?

See, we were very confident at the time and we gave our best on the field as a team. So it’s a great thing for India and for us.

Thoughts on the chances that India created.

We had a lot of chances, three or four open chances, a few misses and as a defender, we always try to clean sheet our back. So, me, Sandesh (Jhingan), Narayan (Das), Subhasish (Bose) and Anas (Edathodika) bhai were always talking to each other and we gave our best in that match. Happy to get the clean sheet.

Thoughts on Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s performance.

Yes, he’s the important part of our team and how he leads from the back and communicates with us is a very important part of our team.

What were the takeaways from this match?

A lot of positives for us because we have to play these types of matches before going there (AFC Asian Cup) and we are now grouped in with Bahrain and UAE, and those type of teams are like China. So if we play these kinds of teams in the future, it is good for us.