Atlético de Kolkata started their Hero Indian Super League campaign with a lot of oomph and established their supremacy in their first few games. FC Goa on the other hand were languishing in the cellar in the initial phase of the competition. But on the eve of their penultimate match of the league phase, the fortunes have turned for both the teams. Goa have already qualified for the semi-finals while Atlético de Kolkata’s chances to make it to the knockouts depend on a lot of permutation and combinations. Head coach Antonio López Habas however appeared to be unfazed about these possibilities on the eve of the clash between the two sides at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. “We are not worried about the other games, we are thinking about our last game tomorrow, that is our goal; we are not thinking about the semi-finals, our focus is just on tomorrow,” he declared at the pre-match press conference. The Spanish gaffer sounded optimistic about his side’s chances despite their recent dip in form. “We are there, we are very close to our target of going to the semi-finals, we are not worried about the past, and we are just focusing on tomorrow,” Habas insisted. He also dismissed talk about whom they would prefer to face in the last four. “We cannot choose, we are thinking only about tomorrow’s game and opponent. If we want to win the title then we must beat all the teams, every team has been very good, so playing anybody would be tough,” he opined. Habas played down the pressure on the team to win and qualify, saying, “That is part of our life, the players and the officials are always in a tough competition, we feel the pressure all the time.” Habas was also quick to dismiss the idea of changing their playing style into more attacking one to achieve the desired result. “We are not changing our style, we always play the same and we will have a plan to beat Goa tomorrow,” he said. Habas also was not unduly concerned about the lack of form of his attacking mainstay Fikru Teferra and the midfield duo of Borja Fernández and Ofentse Nato. “There’s nothing wrong with them. We have to improve in different departments, but as a team, we will try to play the way we have played in our first four-five games. We agree we did not play very well in our last few games, we are working on that, but if we can win our last game tomorrow, then we will be a very tough team to beat,” he concluded.
