Bengaluru FC started their debut Hero Indian Super League (ISL) season with back-to-back victories at home prior to their loss against FC Goa in their previous match. With one of the best squads in the league, Bengaluru will ensure they enter Friday’s match against NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati with renewed zeal, to solidify their position atop the points table.

Bengaluru’s head coach Albert Roca was present at the pre-match press conference to speak with the media and was asked how he was prepping his team to face the NorthEast challenge, taking into account both Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Abhra Mondal are out of contention to start between the sticks. He said, “I’m really confident that any one of my four goalkeepers playing tomorrow will do the job. It’s a collective question to not concede a lot of chances and score a lot of goals. I prefer to win 4-3 than lose 1-0. But last time it was the other way round as we lost 4-3. But if you see the game, there are not a lot of games where that kind of things can happen. It’s just football and we have to learn from that. Everybody can make mistakes and when we play away, things can happen very fast. It’s good to know that we have to play hard. We have to be ready for everything.”

He further added, “Set-pieces are something that works for us. We have to fight and keep working because that’s a part of football. But that’s not the only way to score. We have to be ready for a hard game. We know that they have a good coach. I like the way they won in Delhi. They are a very organized team and very quick so it’s not easy… they will put us in trouble. It’s going to be difficult for us.”

Off the pitch, Bengaluru and Indian national team captain Sunil Chhetri recently got married, but Roca emphasised that there was no question over his availability. “He’s married and he’s available for tomorrow (laughs). He’s back with the team and that’s really professional of him. I think he’s the most professional player that I’ve ever had. I’m sure he took care of himself and he’ll be ready for tomorrow,” he concluded.