Hyderabad FC take on Bengaluru FC in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Bottom-placed Hyderabad go into the game with nothing to lose and will hope to make things difficult for the defending champions in their own backyard.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Hyderabad’s interim head coach Javier Gurri Lopez gave his opinion on their next challenge and said, “Bengaluru are a strong team. They were champions and at this moment they are fighting to be the first and we know it. We will try to control the set pieces. Bengaluru have scored 60% of their goals from set-pieces. We are trying to train that part of the game, but we are also trying to think about our game and not Bengaluru’s. We know that if we play our best football, we have chances in that game.”

Lopez also reiterated his confidence in his players, who put on a gritty display to secure a late draw against Mumbai City FC in their previous outing. “I am very proud of my players’ performance against Mumbai because I think everyone gave their 100% concentration and attitude. I was more happy in the second half. In the first half, we were not controlling and maybe defending too high. Our philosophy is to playing attacking. We changed a few positions in the second half which allowed us to get more chances. I was very proud with the attitude of the players.”

On the club’s future, the interim head coach said, “I think that this is a long process. We cannot only talk about 10 days of training. Our goal is to get ready for the next season. I think that if we train like we trained this week, in the future we will be a stronger team. The team is improving, they are understanding our philosophy. We attack and defend with 11 players. We are trying to be a team. I think that this is the path to success. We are travelling to Bengaluru with that in our mind. We are only thinking about winning.”

Joining Lopez at the presser was player Marcelo Pereira, who spoke about the atmosphere in the camp. “The players are trying to think game by game. We are trying to work on the new ideas of the staff. To be honest, we are working game by game so let’s see what happens. We are working on a defensive system. We are trying to accept it. I think we did very well against Mumbai. But it’s a process. Hopefully in the next game, we will become better.”

Read the Match Preview here.