Delhi Dynamos FC’s hard-driving Dutch-Spanish midfielder Hans Mulder spent his youth at Real Zaragoza before representing a couple of clubs in the Netherlands. The 27-year-old player spoke to Indiansuperleague.com after winning the Amul fittest player of the match award as his team held Atlético de Kolkata to a 1-1 draw at the Salt Lake Stadium today. Here are some excerpts: Congratulations, Hans! It’s a well-earned point earned in Kolkata. How does it feel?They got a red card towards the end of the game, and if we had more time to play, maybe, we could have won here, because we were eleven on ten. In the end, it was a tough game, a few fights, but when we look at it tomorrow we’ll be happy with this point from Kolkata as they are a very good team.How did you find the style of play of your opponents?They have Fikru (Teferra), who’s strong. He can hold the ball and that gives opportunities to the midfield to come around him for support. In the midfield, I don’t have to mention names, of course, they have a great midfield and understand each other, speak the same language. I think that’s a plus point for Kolkata."It’s really important that the crowd supports you."Hans MulderHow does it feel to play alongside a legend like Alessandro Del Piero?When you see what he has achieved in his career, it is a dream for everybody that he’s here. You want to know what kind of a person he is, and he is normal, he tries to help everybody. And with his age and his performance at this level, I think it’s a compliment to him and all the people working with himHow tough is it to play against the Kolkata crowd?I think Kolkata has a great crowd backing them through the season. It’s really important that the crowd supports you, its gives you energy on the field and you can feel it. All I can say is that it’s amazing to be here.How difficult is it to adapt to the artificial turf here?For me, it’s really tough. From yesterday, since we started training, you could see that the ball bounces different, when it gets a little wet, the ball goes faster. It’s difficult to turn. If you train on grass for six weeks and then have to play a game here, it’s very difficult. But we did our best and I’m proud of my team that we did a great job here today.What do you have to say about the Indian contingent in your team?They’re doing very well. If you see Francis (Fernandes) or ‘Mama’ (Shylo Malswamtluanga) or the others for that matter, they are all doing their best. You can see how they’ve performed here today on the field, where there’s such a big crowd, and to play here against them, it’s very difficult. If you see how the Indian players are coping with it, I think it is a very promising sign for Indian football and Indian players.
