Mumbai City FC travel to Kolkata to play Atlético de Kolkata in the first leg of the first semi-final of Hero Indian Super League 2016 at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium on Saturday evening. This is Mumbai’s first semis qualification in the history of the league and for that they have especially their defence to thank, having conceded just eight goals in 14 games. Mumbai defender Anwar Ali spoke to indiansuperleague.com ahead of the clash and shared his thoughts. Here are the excerpts from the interview.You have finished first in the league phase, so how do rate Mumbai’s chances in the semis?There are good chances as this is a new stage for us and we have worked hard to get to the semi-finals, and this is a new match and a new atmosphere, and we are ready for the match.You have played all three seasons, so personally what effect has the ISL had on your career?ISL is a very big thing and I got the opportunity to play with legends. The facilities are good, and regarding my career I think the ISL has given me great confidence.In the league stage, ATK lost against only one team at home and that was Mumbai City FC, so keeping that result in your mind do you think Mumbai are favourites for this game?Thinking like that is not good. We should not think about what happened in the league stage. Now things are different and in the semi-finals nobody knows what the teams will do and if we can get maximum points in our away game, then the game at home can be an advantage for us.Will you be treating the home and away games as two games or will you be treating it as one game of 180 minutes?There is a difference playing at an away ground than at your home ground in front of your home fans, and for now we are focused on the away game and we will focus on the home game after the away game.
