Hyderabad FC coach Manuel Marquez believes his players feel more happy than nervous as they face ATK Mohun Bagan in the first leg of the semifinal - 2 of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season at Athletic Stadium, Bambolim on Saturday.

Hyderabad FC finished second in the league stage, managing 38 points in 20 matches. They ended their league stage at a high, defeating Mumbai City FC 2-1.

Ahead of Hyderabad FC’s match against ATK Mohun Bagan, coach Marquez addressed the media during the official pre-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the press conference.

What have you added to the squad to make them one of the most feared teams in the league?

I think more or less we have the respect of the other teams about our players and how we play. We need to play a very good game if we want to have chances against a big team like ATK Mohun Bagan. These are the four strongest teams in the league. If we arrive in good physical conditions, it will be two good games.

How confident are the boys ahead of the game?

There are two parts to this. When you reach the semifinals for the first time there’s a lot of excitement. The other part is how you can play. In my opinion, our team is full of young brave players. And I think they feel more happy than fear, but respect is always there. I think we will enjoy this historic moment for Hyderabad FC.

How is the team preparing for the match against ATK Mohun Bagan?

First of all, recover maximum players as possible after Covid-19 outbreak. In terms of football, I think we are very good. In terms of physical condition, we will have to wait till the last minute. I think we are ready and prepared to play against a very good team.

With the four foreign players rule being implemented a lot of the teams shuffled their players but Hyderabad FC didn’t. So how did you manage to transform your team?

Continuity is important in every team in the world. All the people spoke about our players, six of them were with the national team. We felt we didn’t need to change the players. I like to play only with four foreigners. We lost the first game against Chennaiyin FC but after it, the team performed very good and was better in the second leg.