FC Goa take on Jamshedpur FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Thursday, after an unsatisfactory run of form in their last three encounters. Portuguese defender Bruno Pinheiro is keeping his eye on the prize, expecting an immediate response from his team in the presence of their passionate supporters in Fatorda. Speaking with indiansuperleague.com before the game, he remains positive ahead of the crucial fixture. Here are the excerpts.

Last three matches have been a little tough for Goa. Does it worry you going into the game against Jamshedpur?

No, not at all. Tomorrow is a new game. In the last three, it was not only inside the pitch that didn’t go well for us, we had a lot of conditions outside the pitch. But anyway, now we have time to recover at home. Tomorrow will be a new game. Of course, Jamshedpur is a very strong team. But we’re ready, we’re prepared, we want to fight back to get the three points. I’m sure Fatorda will be full. There will be a lot of people supporting us. So, it’s an amazing opportunity for us and we don’t want to let it go.

How would you rate your team’s performance so far?

Most importantly, we give a very good show. We play very entertaining football. All the fans, not only our fans, all the fans in India like to watch us. I think the other teams now know more or less how we do it. They try to stop us but we will not change our philosophy. We have lost points in the last three games. We did good exhibitions. Maybe only against Pune, we were a little bit down from what we can do. But the rest of the games, in spite of the draw (against ATK) and the loss against NorthEast (United FC), we played very well. I’m very happy. I think that the team is happy and very comfortable with the style of football that we play. We have to continue because we’re entertaining the fans and we’re having fun as well.

What are your thoughts on 2018’s first game against ATK?

That was one of a kind. It was something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Not only the flight but the warm up, all the rush at the airport. One plane in Goa fell down before we were to fly. Something that I will tell my son and grandson. But normally I would say, it’s not about how it starts but how it ends. The unlikely incident in Kolkata needn’t take us out of our way. We will remain focused and this year we will put in a lot to get the trophy finally to Goa. That’s our goal.

How important is it to have someone like Ahmed Jahouh shielding your defence?

Ahmed Jahouh is a very experienced player. He’s an international player for Morocco. What can I say about him? Everyone sees on the pitch. For me, him alongside Edu Bedia are the two best midfielders in ISL. Jahouh, physically, is a monster. He is everywhere, he has an unbelievable accuracy, be it a long pass or a short pass. Also, very good technically. He’s a very complete player. I’m very happy that he’s in our team.

Ahmed pushes a lot of long balls forward, how crucial is that to the team?

Like I said, he has amazing accuracy, not only long but short also. Sometimes he can be pressed by two-three players but he can easily go away from them. When he beats these two–three players, he gets a lot of space and he creates a lot of space for the team. He finds space very well. With his quality, our midfield is very strong.

Any message for the fans?

Tomorrow is one of the more important games because after the last three games, we need all the strength and support. We count on our twelfth player in Fatorda because we need to fight back.