Oscar Bruzon highlighted his players' strong performance after they were held to a draw by Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League (ISL), at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, on Sunday.

Oscar Bruzon's East Bengal FC faced a frustrating 1-1 draw against Gerard Zaragoza's side with the result costing them a playoff spot.

The match began positively with waves of attacks from East Bengal FC, which led to Raphael Bouli scoring early in the 11th minute. However, the game took a turn when striker Dimitrios Diamantakos received a straight red card just before half-time, which allowed Bengaluru FC's Sunil Chhetri to make their way back into the game and equalize with a penalty in injury time.

The red card significantly impacted East Bengal FC's performance, as coach Bruzon expressed his disappointment over losing a key player at a crucial moment when the team was dominating.

"Today we are out of the top six because of the reactions of one of our players, this cannot be. The red card came at that moment when the team was confident, was pushing, was creating all of the chances, and was dominating. The fans were with us, unfortunately, the attack zone cost us the qualification to the league top six," he said during the post-match press conference.

Despite the setback, Bruzon highlighted his players' strong performance during the first half, pointing out that they created numerous chances and controlled possession.

"The boys today were fantastic when it was 11vs11. There was only one dominating team, we were hunting well, we were winning the balls in the opponent's half, we were launching beautiful attacks, and we were controlling the ball possession. Unfortunately, after the 1-0 lead, if only we had scored another, then the result at the end of the game would be different. We had our chances but it's also true that in the last 25 minutes of the game when they started to put pressure in our box, we were lucky, saved by the post," he stated.

Looking ahead, Bruzon acknowledged that with the playoff spot now out of reach, the focus must shift to their upcoming AFC Challenge League semi-final.

"Until today, we were focused on ISL; we were giving total importance to the ISL.. We wanted and we believed we could finish in the top six. But now, the objective of a top-six playoff spot in the ISL is not possible. Now we have just one objective, and that one is the AFC. So all efforts now are trying to recover the players."

He also mentioned the injury of Anwar Ali, indicating that further evaluation would determine the severity, but initial signs suggested he could be sidelined for several weeks.

"Tomorrow we will do the MRI. We will understand much better the scope of this injury, but it looks like it has appeared on the hamstring. So he feels pain even while walking. So my guess is that we are going to miss Anwar Ali at least for a couple of weeks," he said as he concluded.