FC Pune City drew 0-0 against Bengaluru FC in the first leg of the first semi-final encounter of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18, played at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Wednesday. The Stallions had a few chances of their own, but will now have to get a positive result from their visit to Bengaluru in the second leg to reach the Final.

In the post-match press conference, Pune’s head coach Ranko Popovic addressed the media and began by appreciating both teams for a quality encounter which was albeit goalless. “Everyone knows how important the score in this game is for the next game,” he stated. “None of the teams wanted to make mistakes and to lose advantage. I think this was a very quality and competitive game from both teams. The most interesting thing is how a 0 – 0 draw can be interesting and this game was interesting.”

The 50-year-old further added, “I am satisfied with the performance, not with the result. The result is only the consequence of the work. Today we worked very hard and very well.”

Asked whether the result gave them any advantage going into the match at Bengaluru, the Serbian replied, “You only get an advantage if you finish the game in your favour, whether you play 90 minutes or 120 minutes. What we have to do is try and score the goal in Bengaluru. We are going there to score goals and win the game. I know it will not be easy, but we have to do well if we want to go to the final.”

Pune have had a good away record this season, but Popovic explained that they would have to play like a team to get a result in the second leg. “We did not want to be better away than at home. We wanted to be the same in both and win as many games as possible,” he revealed. “But now the winner will go to the final. So, we have to be smart and have to play like a team to win. When we play like a team, we are really good and competitive. Then, we can play against anyone.”