Mumbai City FC skipper Syed Rahim Nabi has reassured fans that the home advantage will ensure consistency in his team’s performance when they take on Delhi Dynamos FC at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai tomorrow.“We are playing for our fans tomorrow. They will inspire us to do our best. We want to repay them for being so supportive even when we were faltering,” the versatile Nabi promised at a pre-match press conference today.Nabi however went on to state that most teams in the Hero Indian Super League would struggle to nail down a consistent string of performances. “We thrashed Pune by five goals and most people said that we were the side to beat,” he said. “All of a sudden we lost two games and everyone said that we will not qualify for the semi-finals. At the beginning of the tournament, people were calling us potential champions (grinning), but I believe we are gelling together well now and will get some good results.”The Bengal native went on to praise Nicolas Anelka for his match winning performance and said that the team was beginning to operate on the same wavelength as the French star. “What can I say about Anelka? He is top class. His reading of the game is on a different level. We are slowly understanding his approach and are coming to terms with his style of play,” Nabi stated.Nabi also had complimentary things to say about Delhi’s marquee player Alessandro Del Piero and confessed that he was a fan of the legendary Italian. “I have always been a Del Piero fan. Age cannot take away quality and he embodies that. We shall have to be on our toes tomorrow, because if we give him time and space, he will punish us for sure. We will be looking to deny him any opportunity,” he emphasised.Former India defender Deepak Mandal, who was also present at the press conference, said that he was delighted with the way things had panned out in Mumbai’s last outing.“I am extremely happy. The head coach shuffled things a bit and changed the way we were playing. It worked perfectly,” Mandal explained. “We were under a bit of pressure from Kerala in the first half, but I am pleased that we stood firm and gave nothing away. We will be looking to repeat that performance against Delhi and I am sure the backline will be happy to do an encore.” Also present was Mumbai City COO Arunava Chaudhuri who stressed on the fact that recovery is very important for the players in a hectic tournament of this kind. “The head coach Peter Reid wanted to make sure that the players were in top condition. So we focussed on recovery yesterday and had some pool sessions. One of the reasons for having a big squad is that it gives you the opportunity to keep things fresh,” Chaudhuri said.He also went on to add that there were bragging rights to be claimed in tomorrow’s clash between the two metropolitan teams: “It is the country’s capital versus the financial capital. It will be engaging, for sure!”
