FC Pune City got the better of Mumbai City FC in the first ‘Maha’ derby of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. The 2-1 success for the Stallions meant that they went second on the table. Uruguayan hitman Emiliano Alfaro bagged a brace to help his side come from behind after a Balwant Singh goal had given Mumbai the lead.

Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference was Pune head coach Ranko Popovic and their man of the moment, Alfaro, who went to the summit of the goal-scoring charts thanks to his double. The Serbian head coach made it clear that although his side are still working on keeping clean sheets – having failed to keep one yet this season – he was satisfied with how they are playing.

“We are working on this (keeping clean sheets), but sometimes you cannot do it. Before the goal, we made a couple of mistakes and practically invited him (Balwant Singh) to score a fantastic goal. Now after the result, 2-1 is for us. If they won 1-0, I don’t know what would be my comment. Until we have the possibility to change the result, we must do everything. This is what I want from them, and this is what they are doing, and I am really satisfied because of that,” Popovic said.

He went on to lavish his players with praise and admitted that he was proud of them. “Pune was the team which made the game, created the chances, and finally scored the goals. Today, we had a complete game,” Popovic stated. “Today, there were many nice things on the pitch, and it was good publicity of the derby, of nice football, of everything. Two good teams, and I am very proud of my guys today, because they showed over the 90 minutes, that they want to win.”

As far as the late winner was concerned, Emiliano Alfaro explained how it’s moments such as those that makes everyone love football. “This is football. We love football because of that and sometimes just two minutes can change everything. Even when we were 1-0 down today, we tried to play, and we had confidence with the ball. I was there (in the box) in that minute. My partner Diego (Carlos) gave me the ball to shoot inside and finish,” Alfaro said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai head coach Alexandre Guimaraes was a dejected man following his side’s loss. When asked about the positives Mumbai can take away from the game, the Costa Rican said: “I think everything we did, we did well… we made some corrections and then we controlled the game in midfield, but then it’s very difficult to talk about a game which you lost.”