Bottom-placed Hyderabad FC take on FC Goa in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Wednesday. Hyderabad will be looking for a positive result against the Gaurs, who will be without head coach Sergio Lobera, having parted ways with the Spaniard recently.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Hyderabad’s interim head coach Javier Gurri Lopez praised youngster Abhishek Halder and said, “Abhishek is a young player with good quality. We are very happy with his performance in the trainings. He is giving us something good otherwise. He moves into the spaces and can play as a striker as well, giving us more depth, so I am happy with him.”

Speaking about new signing Hitesh Sharma, who joined recently from ATK FC, Lopez opined, “Hitesh is also a young and smart player. He is learning how to play in an attacking way. He knows how to play between the lines. He is very technical, and I am very happy that I could bring him to Goa.”

He also shed light on the absence of Rohit Kumar, revealing that he won't be travelling with a squad due to injury. “Rohit injured himself in the last week. At this moment he is not ready to come to Goa. Let’s see how he feels in the next week.”

With the Hyderabad squad undergoing a massive overhaul of sorts with an eye on the next season, Lopez was asked his opinion on who he thought was a good choice to captain the team. “This is one thing the players and the club decides. For me, the best person in the team to be captain is Adil Khan. He has all the qualities to be a good leader,” he responded.

Nikhil Poojary, who accompanied Lopez to the briefing, spoke about the prospect of facing a Goa team sans Lobera and opined, “I think as a coach, Lobera has done great things for Indian football. We were amazed by the things he did with his Goa team and how they played. I think this is the best time to play FC Goa and this is the best time to spoil their party.”

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