Mumbai City FC welcome Bengaluru FC in the 50th match of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Thursday. The Islanders suffered a 2 – 0 setback against the Blues in their opening fixture of the campaign and enter the match on the back of a 1 – 0 defeat against Kerala Blasters in their last encounter. A win would see them entering the top four in the points table.

Addressing the media prior to the showdown was Mumbai’s head coach, Alexandre Guimaraes. The Costa Rican revealed that he sees a lot of potential in his team and that they would do their best in a tough fixture at home. “In terms of the team performance and the team development, I continue to see the team growing,” Guimaraes stated. “Sometimes this development and growing don’t match with some results. But we know of course that now we have a situation to stand up again. So, we will do the best we can, knowing that the league is very compact and that the team which is going to lie down is finished. And we are not going to lie down. We are a fighting team that knows with a win we have a chance to again be in the top four. So, we will fight with all our resources.”

They would obviously be wary of the fact that they were beaten in their last encounter against the Blues, but Guimaraes believed that his team has come a long way after that opening clash. “In the first game, we had some extra few situations that did not allow us to make a good game,” the 58-year-old inferred. “And they (Bengaluru FC) deserved that win for sure. But from that game, I think we have been building our style of play, which has us in this package of eight teams who all have a chance (to make it to the semifinals). From that game, we have developed a lot and we have been showing that. Sometimes results don’t match the performance. This is what happened in the last game. But from the first game in Bengaluru till now, we have developed very much.”

He further added that he was not looking back to their last match’s disappointment against Kerala either. “Whatever the sport, sometimes when you lose for something, it’s hard to not think about it twice,” Guimaraes said. “But it’s something you have to deal with. Like I said to the players, this (the loss) is the past. Unfortunately, that happens and we have to just look forward and play our best and try to win tomorrow.”