Image credit: BengaluruFC@Twitter

Bengaluru FC head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli has praised his players following their thumping 6-2 win over local side Maziya Sports & Recreation in their AFC Cup Group D South Zone encounter at the National Football Stadium in Male on Tuesday evening. 

Coming into the game, the Blues were already out of contention for the inter-final semi-final, so they played for pride. They made several changes to their starting line-up -- skipper Sunil Chhetri and defender Yrondu Musavu-King being notable absentees – and the youngsters delivered the goods. Udanta Singh opened the team’s account, after which Cleiton Silva, Leon Augustine, substitutes Sivasakthi Narayanan and Bidyashagar Singh, who scored twice in the last few minutes, got their names on the scoresheet to lead their team to a highly-impressive win.   

Pezzaiuoli’s joy, understandably so, knew no bounds. "I think it was a great game, we played good football from the first second. The team spirit is phenomenal and it has been that way since our first game here in Maldives. Our football is constantly improving and it’s difficult to place one player above the other in terms of performance, they were all hard working, especially Udanta Singh," the-afc.com quoted him as saying.

Pezzaiuoli believes the manner in which his team won in some way lessened the disappointment of not qualifying for the inter-zone semi-final. "I'm very happy tonight. It's not easy when you know you cannot progress to the next round. But we played very nice offensive football, created lots of chances and scored goals. This is a great motivation and congratulations to the team and to all our staff.

“From what I have seen here and my experience coaching in Indian football is that there is a good mix of experience and there are some really quality young players which is good for the development of football for India,” he said.

Udanta, who was a livewire all through the game and a real nuisance for the opposition team, on the other hand, said against Maziya Bengaluru FC showed what they can do on their day. “I’m really happy that today we got to see a mix of experience and young players in action. It’s a great opportunity for the players to show what they are capable of for Bengaluru.”