Delhi Dynamos FC travel to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to take on Kerala Blasters FC in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Saturday. The Lions are rooted to the bottom of the league table and come off the back of a disappointing 3 – 2 setback against Jamshedpur FC, in a match where they led 2 – 0 at one point. A chance of reaching the playoffs may be a far-off dream for the visitors, but they are still not completely out of contention.

Delhi’s head coach Miguel Angel Portugal spoke to the media in the pre-match press conference, where he began by mentioning that a win was necessary for both the teams. “I think the new head coach (Kerala’s David James) has changed the mentality of the team,” Portugal inferred. “I feel the match against Kerala is important for them and for us because we both want to win.”

The 62-year-old mentioned how he expects Kerala’s gameplay to be like against them. “For us, it’s our responsibility to mark well because Kerala plays long balls,” he said. “They know that is our problem, and that will be Kerala’s philosophy against us.”

He also explained what his team’s weaknesses were. “We train every day for improving,” Portugal shared. “Corners are our problems. When we play football on the ground, we play very well and play with quality. But, our problem is individual duels”

When asked if he foresees any possibility of the Lions making it to the playoffs, the Spaniard replied, “I am not thinking about any possibility. I am only thinking about winning against Kerala tomorrow. For us, our objective is to take it game by game and win them. And now, our next game is against Kerala and our aim is to win against them.”

Before leaving, he informed the media about the injuries in the squad and the players who would miss Saturday’s fixture. “We have five-six players who are out with injury,” he revealed. They are Vinit (Rai), (Jeroen) Lumu, Rowilson (Rodrigues), Edu (Moya), (Xabier) Iruetaguena and Nandha (Nandhakumar Sekar).