Mumbai City FC will head into the first leg of Semi-final 1 in Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 with confidence after clinching the League Winners Shield in their last outing. They will be up against FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium and the Islanders’ towering defender Mourtada Fall, who has been a massive presence in both boxes this season, revealed that the mood in the Islanders’ camp is good before discussing what it will be like for him to play against his former club FC Goa.  

“It’s a good feeling after winning [the last match]. Everyone’s feeling good to be a part of the semi-finals. Everyone is ready for the match… It makes no difference because I’m a Mumbai City FC player [now]. So, it’s just a game, we are professionals. We play the same way,” Fall said at the pre-match press conference.

Fall has been part of a Hero semi-final as well as a final with FC Goa before and has his sights firmly on fulfilling his objective for the season with Mumbai City FC. “Before last year we reached the final [with FC Goa and Sergio Lobera at the helm]. So, we always believe [ that they can do it again]. This is different [though, the challenge], so we need to manage this well and our objective is to reach the final,” he said.

The highest-scoring defender in Hero ISL history, Fall has made his presence felt during offensive set-pieces with three goals for the Islanders this season. While discussing the importance of set-pieces, Fall said: “We work a lot on these [set-pieces] in training. So, it doesn’t happen by luck because we work on set-pieces all the time and try to help our strikers because it’s not always possible for our strikers to find a solution. So, if we go forward [for a set-piece], in our minds we go to score. So, everyone is ready to do everything to help the team because set-pieces are very important.”

When asked if the Islanders had any special plans to stop Igor Angulo, who netted against them last time around and is FC Goa’s top-scorer with 13 goals, Fall said: “I have a lot of respect for him but I’m more focused on us. We need to do our jobs. If we do it well then we have nothing to worry about.”