Chennaiyin FC player-cum-head coach Marco Materazzi is excited over the prospect of playing in front of 60,000 fans in this football crazy city when his side take on table toppers Atlético de Kolkata at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata tomorrow. The first leg match in Chennai between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw.“Kolkata is the best city to play football, we are going to play against one of the favourite teams of the tournament and the huge crowd, we want to play in front of 60,000 fans” enthused the 2006 World Cup winner at the pre-match press conference.The Italian admitted that he was disappointed that his club was not able to scale the top of the league table as a result of a dip in form in recent matches and their inability to force wins. But he saw a silver lining in the dark cloud and pointed out that despite being in second place they were on the same points as the league leaders (12). “If we can match our tally from the first half of the campaign, we will be in the playoffs,” Materazzi quipped.When queried about the availability of their ace defender Bernard Mendy for tomorrow’s game, Materazzi replied, “Mendy cannot make it due to injury, but we still have 11 players.”He also expressed his dissatisfaction about the prospect of playing on the artificial turf at the Salt Lake Stadium. “It’s not good, it’s not football, we are used to playing on grass, but we can’t do anything about it,” he shrugged.The Inter-Milan legend also did not let out his plans to stop Atlético de Kolkata’s dangerous striker Fikru Teferra who has three goals to his credit. He said in reply to a question on the subject, “Fikru is a great player, but we will play with the same strategy as we played the other games, we put our heart on the pitch, and we are going to do the same tomorrow.”Materazzi also heaped huge praise on the league’s leading scorer, Elano, saying, “We have the best player in our team and he is playing fantastic football.”The Brazilian playmaker was himself present at the press conference and claimed that he was under no pressure for having to do all the scoring for Chennaiyin FC. “I don’t take any pressure, I try to be happy, I am thankful to my coach for this kind of support, but I try to relax and enjoy the game,” Elano said. Asked whether he is confident about winning the Golden Boot in the competition, Elano clarified, “I am thinking about tomorrow’s game only.” He also claimed that it is not a huge hassle to play on artificial turf. “It is not a problem for me, I know it is tough to play here, the ball moves fast on this pitch, but if it is difficult for the goalkeeper, it is also difficult for me,” he reasoned.
