FC Goa secured a convincing victory over Mumbai City FC in their first home game of the season, which saw the Gaurs score five brilliant goals. The home team entered the break with a one-goal lead but stepped up their game in the second half, putting four past the visitors. Mumbai also created multiple chances throughout the game but couldn’t find the net.

Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference, the FC Goa coach Sergio Lobera was thrilled with his team’s display, especially after the long break. “What we knew clearly was that this was not going to be an easy game, and we saw the pattern from the beginning. We took advantage of the chances that we had, and I think, in football, that is what ultimately counts. In the second half, I think we were very good. We were far superior in the midfield. I’m very happy with the performance of the team,” he said.

Lobera also lauded the collective effort put in by his team, and said, “Like I always say it’s the team that rises above the individual. We have a team that creates lots of opportunities and we score lots of goals. It’s our good fortune that we have a striker like Coro, who is a very good player in his position. But it’s good that we have players who can come in from the bench. I think no single thing can make a team winners. What makes the team win is multiple things working together and that is what happened today.”

Mumbai head coach Jorge Costa, on the other hand, was far from pleased with his team’s second half display but also admitted that they came up against a superior team on the night. “At end, for history, it’ll be 5-0. People who didn’t see the game will think that we came here and lost. In my opinion, things were very different. We had a very good first half before the goal. We had two very clear opportunities to score. We tried to press against a good team. As I said before, they like to play and they have quality.”

“I think in the first half we had 5-6 clear opportunities to score. Also, in the second half we had some opportunities. I’m disappointed with the result, but I’m very disappointed with the last 30 minutes because we gave up. And we cannot give up. 1-0 or 5-0, we lost three points, I know that. But, I will not allow my players or staff to give up. We did very good things, we created a lot of opportunities to score. Today wasn’t our day to score and I’m sad,” he added.

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