FC Goa were held to a 1-1 draw against Chennaiyin FC in the first leg of the second semi-final in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Saturday. Manuel Lanzarote scored the first goal of the game, while substitute Anirudh Thapa equalised seven minutes later.

While speaking about the draw at the post-match press conference, Goa’s head coach Sergio Lobera opined: “I think the result is yet to be decided. The elimination between both the teams is still completely open. What we have here is enough for us to go through and we need to score there (in Chennai). Today, it was a little difficult to get a result against a team who is so brilliantly organised as well as defensively strong as Chennai were today. But having said that, for us it is not such an obstacle to go there and try and score a goal because that’s what we need to do to make it to the final.”

He continued: “As far as the performance of the team is concerned, there were different phases. I thought there was a lot of space between the lines. We had possession, but we were very far away from the opposition goal and when we were attacking, we did not have a lot of numbers up there near the goal. So, with this result today, the team is a little more divided and it physically cost us a little as well.”

When asked if they missed Hugo Boumous and if he’ll be available for the return leg, the Spaniard said: “I think he will recover in time for the next game. It was also a case of ensuring that we did not take any risks. We will see how he is in the next couple of days and then take a decision if he can feature in the next (match).”

Goa won 3-2 when they visited Chennai last time around and when commenting on if that will be a morale boost, Lobera said: “Yes, we were capable of doing that there, but right now the circumstances need to serve us as a form of motivation. But we have to keep in mind that whatever happened in the past has nothing to do with what is going to happen in the next couple of days’ time. We have to prepare well for the game. We have to recover the players quickly within the two days of gap we have and go there and try and win.”

When quizzed on his thoughts about the return leg, the 41-year-old added: “Yes, of course, we have confidence. We haven’t lost anything. Obviously, it’s not a result we would have liked but the game and the result is completely open so far. We are a team who normally score goals and why can’t we do that there? My confidence is maximum. I think we have a lot of possibilities to be in the final and we have to do everything very well in the next game.”