FC Pune City travel to the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday to face Bengaluru FC in the second leg of the first semi-final in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The Stallions drew the first leg 0-0 in Pune and will be satisfied that they managed to keep a clean sheet at home. With the new away-goal rule in place this season, the one man who can give Pune the edge in scoring crucial away goals is their club captain Marcelinho. The Brazilian spoke to indiansuperleague.com before the game and here are the excerpts.

Your thoughts on leading Pune into their first semi-finals?

I feel very good. That was my job before I came here, when they picked me to come to this club. It was my responsibility to lead the team and I think, I did something well. We made a good group. Also, a good job from the coach and I’m feeling good. I’m feeling happy that we’re in the semi-finals. We can reach the final and also can be the champions. Let’s see!

Have Pune taken a different approach for the semi-finals?

No. I think our expectation was to reach the top four, so we’re happy with our job. We’re happy that we’re playing nice football. And let’s see, we might be the champions.

Will there be pressure when you face Bengaluru?

It’ll be a normal game for me. We have faced strong defences like Kerala Blasters FC and FC Goa, so for me, it’ll be a normal game.

What is the game plan against Bengaluru?

They’re a very good team and they have a very good coach. They’ve played together for a couple of years, maybe more. But we’re also good and have experienced players like them. It’s a game where you can’t make mistakes, so there’s no game plan. We’ll try not to make easy mistakes and everything will be well.