Mumbai City FC returned to action in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 with a 1-0 victory over Bengaluru FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday. The win took the Islanders to the top of the table while also inflicting the Blues’ first loss of the season.

The three points mean that Jorge Costa’s men have now gone nine matches unbeaten - their longest-ever undefeated run in the Hero ISL. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Costa reflected on what the win means for his team and laid out the path ahead. "Yes, it’s true that we are top of the league. It’s important for us. We must keep working. It was a very important game against one of the best teams in India with very good players. It’s a team that hadn’t lost. This victory will give us more motivation to keep doing our work,” he said.

“I was a little afraid because it was the first game after the break. The players can forget some things. So, I’m very happy with the result and the way in which we won the three points. We deserved the win," he added.

Asked if he had any special game plan to end Bengaluru's 11-match unbeaten streak, Costa said, "We play against Bengaluru the same way we play against Kerala, Goa. This is our team. This is what we do in training. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t. We do everything to win three points in all the games."

The veteran coach also hailed his players for putting in the hard work to lift the team to the top of the table. "We worked seriously. We worked hard. These guys deserve to be top of the league because we are very serious every day. We must give our best every day. We are not the best team in the world. But we play as a team," he declared.

Costa’s opposite number Carles Cuadrat felt that his team deserved more from the match. "I think that the two teams had a very clear plan. At the end, Mumbai got the three points because the area that they were planning, it worked well. The area was to go for counter-attacks and they scored from it. We know that. We had two options. One was to defend for the counter-attacks and the other was to go for the game. So, we took risks. I wanted to go for the game," he said.

Cuadrat finished his press conference stating that the Mumbai players' superior physicality might have given them the edge in the match. "It’s clear that Mumbai are a more physical team than us in the actions of one against one. So, that was the reason we had more people in the midfield. But as I said, the players are not so powerful physically. But they gave everything. I’m very happy with the performance they gave. They have been working so hard," he opined.

Read the match report here.