Izu Azuka will be looking to add to his one goal in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 when Jamshedpur FC host Chennaiyin FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Thursday. Azuka netted for Jamshedpur in their win against Delhi Dynamos FC and has looked lively while spearheading the attack for Steve Coppell’s men. The Nigerian striker spoke to indiansuperleague.com ahead of their clash against Chennai and opened up about his footballing journey. Here are the excerpts.

You have played football around the globe. Where did your journey begin?

My journey actually began in Nigeria in 2008 when I was signed by my first ever professional team, Sharks FC Port Harcourt.

What made you come to India? How has it been living here?

Well, it has been great living in India. Football is virtually same everywhere, so I don’t see any difference between football in India or England. Football is same everywhere for me.

After six matches this season, how has your experience in ISL been so far and what do you think about the Indian players?

It has been a great experience playing in the ISL. Before coming to India, I never expected football to be like this. But on getting here I discovered that football is very professional just like every other country.

Jamshedpur is arguably the most organised team right now. How easy or difficult was it for you to settle in?

It wasn’t naturally that difficult to settle in because as I said football is same everywhere. A football club is virtually like a family. For those five or eight months, depending on the length of the season everyone bonds together. We arguably have the best coach in the league.

So, what is the team doing when you guys are not playing?

Well, we have stuff to do together. We’ve got games to play even cricket. I suddenly liked it because I had never played cricket in life, so I started learning the rules of cricket from my teammates. And I know cricket is a religion in India.

You lost your first game against Pune. How important was it to bounce back with that victory against Bengaluru? Could you just tell me what the last-minute goal meant to the team?

The last-minute goal meant a lot to the team. If you have noticed most of the points we have picked in the league are from the away matches. We are confident because our coach has his tactics and they are working out very fine for us. So even before the match I knew, I told my teammates that we are picking up three points from this match. So, the feeling was there already, that we are going to win.

Chennai is on top of the table, what kind of threat do they possess?

Ninety minutes decides if they possess a threat or not. So, the most important thing for us is that we are picking three points. So whatever threat they possess we will get to know that in 90 minutes tomorrow.