Bengaluru FC will be on the road to Guwahati for the first leg of their semi-final against NorthEast United FC on Thursday. This is their second successive appearance in the semi-final stages of the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) and thus have the experience and know-how of what it takes to perform on the big stage.

At his pre-match briefing, the Blues boss sounded confident in his team’s ability to navigate through the Highlanders. He said, “We are training, we are working on things. It will be a tough game. The one tomorrow and the other one next week. We have been having tough games with a lot of opponents this season. It’s a short league, it’s a difficult week. They have their weapons, and we have ours. They only got one point against us, we got four. It will be a two good games with a lot of passion and lot of things happening. Its good for the football.”

The Spaniard then, went on at length to comment on the lack of consistency in his team’s recent performances. “You have to win the competition in three games. So, you cannot make mistakes. One bad day and you are out. For the last two seasons, Bengaluru have been showing a lot of consistency because we have been at the top of the table for a lot of weeks. So, it means the team is working week after week and getting the points.”

“We have got 74 points in two seasons. The next team is Goa with 64. The rest of the team did not even get 60 points. It means that there is a big difference. But that is for nothing if we have one bad day here, and we lost 0-3. At the beginning of the season, I said that for me it is not important to finish 1^st, 3^rd or 4^th. For me what is important is to finish in the semi-finals. So, now it is the moment. We have three games to win the trophy.”

“Because we have the privilege to get a lot of points at the beginning of the season, I tried to avoid injuries in the final stages of the season. I was not 100% successful in that because we lost Erik Paartalu. We don’t have Gursimrat Singh as for tomorrow. That also is a loss in our defense. We are 25 players in the squad,” he added.

Cuadrat also weighed in with his views on why the team that finishes at the top of the league never goes on to lift the cup. “I have quite a long experience in the country. So, I have seen a lot of things already. I’m very happy that this season we went 11 matches without losing to anyone and six wins in a row. So, it makes the group strong.”

“From Christmas to here, we have won two games. That is exactly what NorthEast and Mumbai did in the same period. I don’t feel we are not in a good form in comparison to the other teams. The four of us are powerful teams. In general, for the league, it’s very nice. There is going to be a new champion. It means that other teams are doing the job. I’m really happy that NorthEast are first time in the playoffs. It’s a gift for all the supporters who have been supporting the team in the last four years,” he finished.

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