NorthEast United FC travel to the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday to take on ATK in the last league-phase match of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The Highlanders are languishing at the bottom of the table and will give their best to pick up maximum points against the struggling hosts to ensure a ninth-place finish. The visitors failed to break their semi-final jinx again this year, though some of the players did display wonderful performances. One of them was their Swiss Jose Goncalves, who spoke to indiansuperleague.com on the eve of the match to share his thoughts on the season and more. Here are the excerpts.

Your take on this Hero ISL season as a player?

It has been a very intense season with a lot of ups and downs. We obviously take back the best from the season. But it’s obvious we didn’t reach our goal, which was to qualify for the semis. It is very disappointing, but life must move on. As I said, we will take the positives from this season into the next one.

What are the positives that you take from the season?

The group. I think it is not easy to form a team with so many new players and it did take us some time to come together, work hard and achieve something. Sometimes you don’t end up achieving for the first few months or the first year, but it can change in the next season. So, it’s very important to stay positive. The positive stuff is that the team came back in the second half of the season. We saw that we created more chances and suddenly the result was there, so it is something we can work on.

With the Super Cup coming soon, how important would a win be for the team’s momentum?

It will be very important. Everything is very important. Whether it’s the league or the cup, it is very important and we take this very seriously. So, we will fulfil our duty in this last game and then make sure that we are ready for the Super Cup. But first of all, there is one more game in the league and we will give our best there.

Any message for the fans?

Yes, definitely. For all the support during the season especially during the bad times, thank you very much. Thanks to all who supports us at home, at Assam and at Guwahati. A lot of them travel or live in different cities, so thanks a lot for such amazing support. See you all next season.