Chennaiyin FC take on Mumbai City FC in their first home game of the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

The two-time Hero ISL champions have now lost their eight of their last 10 matches in the league and will hope to find some form at home. Speaking in an exclusive interview to indiansuperleague.com, Chennaiyin FC’s Romanian winger Dragos Firtulescu talks about the pressure of playing at home. Here are excerpts from the interview.

How are Chennaiyin FC approaching their first home match of the season?

I’m very excited. I was waiting for this match for a long time. I hope to not disappoint our fans, they have been sending me messages. I want to thank them for this. I know they will support our team. It is just that they need to be patient because like I said, a team can’t be built in one or two days. Just like when you build a house, you need to wait for some time for it to be ready. It is the same for a team. We have players like Jerry (Lalrinzuala), (Lallianzuala) Chhangte, who is a national team player. (Dhanpal) Ganesh and (Anirudh) Thapa, they won a title here. Also, the foreign players, they have come from some good championships. The team just needs time to have more chemistry.

How are Chennaiyin FC preparing for the upcoming match against Mumbai City FC?

I saw a little bit of them (against Kerala Blasters FC), but I think it’s not important. For me as an attacking midfielder, I don’t want to watch too much of the opponent. The most important thing is, how we as Chennaiyin look at this game. It is important to be in good shape, and we are concentrating on that 100% so that we can win the match.

Read the match preview here