Braces from Sunil Chhetri and Cleiton Silva secured a 4-2 win for Bengaluru FC against Mumbai City FC in match 95 of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2020-21 at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Monday. The Blues took a two-goal lead in the first half through Cleiton before sealing the win with two more strikes in the second period from Chhetri. Adam le Fondre netted twice for Mumbai City to make it 2-1 and 3-2 in the second period but couldn’t stop the Islanders from succumbing to their third loss of the campaign.

At the post-match press conference, Bengaluru’s interim head coach Naushad Moosa urged his team to continue playing their remaining games like they did against Mumbai City. “It was very important for the team [to win]. The only way to win the remaining matches is to play as a team like we did against Mumbai City,” Mossa said after the match.

Playing his 200th game for the Blues, Chhetri scored twice to help his team win and Moosa spoke of his importance to the team. “Sunil is a captain and a leader. The way he motivates the players is very important. You can see the frustration in him when the team isn't playing so it was important for him to keep his cool,” he said.

Bengaluru fielded plenty of pacey players, with Ashique Kuruniyan also making an appearance from the bench for the Blues and Moosa explained why they were needed to beat Mumbai City’s high press. “They play very high, so the idea was to always capitalize on that and go for the counter-attacks. We wanted to use the speed of Sunil, Udanta (Singh) and Ashique [who came off the bench],” Moosa revealed.

Watch Naushad Moosa's Post-Match Press conference here:

Meanwhile, Mumbai City’s head coach Sergio Lobera felt that Bengaluru’s early goal made it difficult for his side to beat the Blues. “When we concede a goal 30 seconds into the match, against a team who have not been at their best, it increases their motivation and makes it more difficult for us to play,” he said.

“I think our reaction in the second half after we conceded two goals was good. We were coming back into the game before we conceded the third goal, and that was painful for us,” Lobera added.

The Islanders have now conceded seven goals in their last two matches, but Lobera is more worried about his team’s conversion rate in front of goal. “I know that we have been conceding goals. We conceded three goals in the last match as well [against FC Goa]. But I am more concerned about the chances we had but were unable to score. If we scored, we would have won the game. We need to bring back the balance of the team,” the Spaniard said.

Watch Sergio Lobera's Post-Match Press conference here: