Mumbai City FC visit the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday to take on Chennaiyin FC in their last Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 encounter. The Islanders got knocked out of contention for the semi-finals when they were beaten 5 – 1 by Delhi Dynamos FC in their last fixture, but would want to end their campaign on a positive note with a well-earned victory.

The visitor’s head coach Alexandre Guimaraes addressed the media during the pre-match press conference and pointed out that his team was going for the win to secure a sixth-place finish. “We may not have qualified, but we have not lost our respect,” he remarked. “We have all the resources available for our last match, so I would put the best players available tomorrow. And then, we will obviously be going for the win because then we will finish in the sixth place. That is a position where we can be satisfied.”

The 58-year-old also explained why his team failed to make it to the top four. “We have had more situations compared to other teams,” he stated. “In the beginning, we did not have all the eight foreigners available to play for the team. And every year, the Hero ISL is getting more and more competitive. So things like these can hurt a team very much, as they had hurt us.”

The Costa Rican further elaborated before signing off. “All the teams that are in the top four have had a period where they have won three games in a row. For one reason or the other, we never made it. Having nine points in a row can give you a little more calm. But as we could not do it, it hurt us with our hopes of qualification,” he concluded.