Kerala Blasters FC travel to Bhubaneswar to face Odisha FC at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday in what will be both teams’ final match of the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 campaign. After a topsy-turvy season, filled with plenty of ups and downs, the Kochi-based side will want to go out on a positive note.

At the pre-match press conference, Kerala head coach Eelco Schattorie dismissed any possibilities of fielding a second-string side despite the lack of any far-reaching consequences in the match. He said, “We are here to win with our best XI. We want the three points and will go all out. Who plays and who doesn’t is not important. In professional football, you give 100% in every match. If there are injuries, there may be opportunities for a few new players but that depends on the situation in the game.”

Asked for his assessment on why Kerala failed to make the top four this season, Schattorie opined, “It’s very simple. We are going to play our 18th game on Sunday and till now, I have had to use 17 different line-ups. It’s not because I wanted to, but I had to because of injuries.”

“It’s important to build relationships in both life and football. For example, people thought initially that Bartholomew Ogbeche and Messi Bouli can’t play together. They played 4-5 games together, built a relationship and have done well since. It’s difficult to build consistency if you have to change your players constantly. We have played some very good games, earning plaudits from the opposition, but to keep winning, you need to be consistent,” he further explained.

The Dutchman was accompanied by player Vlatko Drobarov. “We came here with the motivation to win even though the game is not very important. Neither we or Odisha can make it to the semi-finals but we still want to win. We want these three points and will fight till the end. We have our strengths and Odisha have their own. We will see who comes out on top in the match,” declared the defender.

Read the Match Preview here.