Chennaiyin FC welcome FC Goa to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai for the second leg of the second semi-final of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Tuesday. Chennaiyin scored a crucial away goal in the first leg at Goa to take a slight advantage into the return leg. Dhanpal Ganesh has been a revelation in a defensive-midfield role, putting in some solid and eye-catching performances for his team. The 23-year-old has scored once this season and spoke to indiansuperleague.com prior to the clash. Here are the excerpts.

Your thoughts on the first leg?

The previous match was very important. It is not like the league stage anymore where you can lose a game and still catch up with a win in the next. This is the semi-final. The away match was very important for us. The 1-1 draw was a good result for us because FC Goa are a good side at home. So the away draw was a good result for us.

Were you happy with a draw in the away leg?

FC Goa are a very good side. It is tough to play against them, but I think we did a good job in the last match. They have the top scorer of the league in their side, but we are more focused on defending because they have scored the most goals this season. So, a draw at their home ground was a good result for us.

As a defender, how important is it to win aerial battles?

Honestly, I don’t really pay attention to all that. During the game, I am only focused on defending. I find aerial balls easy to deal with so I contest for them.

Your thoughts on your season and the national team call-up?

Firstly, I would like to thank my coach here at Chennaiyin FC. It is because of the chance that he has given me that I have been able to prove myself. Later, I also thanked the national team coach (Stephen Constantine) for selecting me in his team.

Any message for the fans?

I want to thank the fans a lot because they support us a lot. They are our backbone. They came with us to Goa, Kerala, Bengaluru... That is why we were able to win and get to the semi-finals. The upcoming match is also very important.  Come support us and pray that we win. Your support is really important to us.