Jamshedpur FC will be on the road to face off against reigning Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) champions Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Jamshedpur come into the match on the back of a five-match winless run, including consecutive losses in their last two, and will be eager to break the trend.

A big reason behind Jamshedpur’s slump in form after a solid start to their season has been the injury to star forward Sergio Castel. Addressing the impact of the forward’s absence, Jamshedpur head coach Antonio Iriondo, at the pre-match press conference, said, “The circumstances happen. We are still creating chances, playing good but not being able to score. Sergio is an important player for us and a big absence. He’s not ready to play yet. Hopefully he will be back with us next match. He hasn’t played in the last five games for us now. Piti and Noe Acosta have been injured too. Noe is healthy bur Sergio and Piti are still out.”

Speaking about the challenge at hand, Iriondo stated, “Now we play Bengaluru. I love to play against great teams. It will be a good opportunity to see how the team has improved in the last few days. I think we are improving. We have been unlucky with injuries but looking for ways to compensate. The Bengaluru match will be a good test to see how we are improving.”

Jamshedpur recently roped in Spanish forward David Grande and re-signed Indian striker Gourav Mukhi to strengthen their forward line. Asked about the latest additions to his squad, the veteran coach noted, “We were having problems with scoring goals. We had a chance to sign Grande and took it since Sergio wasn’t recovering fast enough. Gourav was with the reserves, so he has been training with the team. It’s a good idea to have options, especially in the forward area, since we were having problems with scoring goals. Hopefully, they can help.”

Iriondo was accompanied by Spanish midfielder Aitor Monroy at the briefing. The player spoke about the upcoming game and remarked, “For me, the aim is to get three points. We are here to win the game. We are confident and we will give our best. We will play to win. Bengaluru are a good team with good players. We need the points and we will be aggressive.”

Read the Match Preview here.