Mumbai City FC completed an unprecedented league double over Bengaluru FC in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) as they beat the two-time champions 2-0 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Friday. Modou Sougou and Amine Chermiti scored the two goals for the Islanders, with both coming after defensive lapses by Bengaluru.

At the post-match press conference, Mumbai head coach Jorge Costa expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance and said, “We played a very good game. It’s true there may have been an element of luck in both our goals but we also created a lot of chances and could have scored more. Bengaluru had only one chance. We worked hard and pressed from the first second. We deserved to win this game. We were better and had more chances.”

The Portuguese head coach reserved special praise for his defence and stated, “I am happy with the defence. We played almost a perfect game in defence. We made a few mistakes, but that’s a part of football. When you keep a clean sheet you always have a better chance to win. However, we have to sustain it till the end of the season. I hope we can repeat this performance.”

The win takes Mumbai just two points off the top four and gives them a boost in their bid to make a final push for the coveted semi-final spot. Speaking about the same, Costa declared, “We still have a lot of points to play for and we will try to win all of them, if possible. We will fight for all of them. We will see what happens.”

Costa deployed a midfield two of Rowllin Borges and Sourav Das, which worked out well in the match. Explaining his decision behind using the combination, Costa noted, “Sourav was injured and worked every day to come back. When you work hard, you deserve to play. I played Sourav and Borges together. Borges was playing in a very different position than he usually does. Today, we gave more freedom to Borges and he did a good job.”

Read the Match Report here.