“Told my players that this will happen”: Bengaluru FC coach Gerard Zaragoza after 1-1 draw against East Bengal FC

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 3 (ANI): Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza was pleased with his side’s response as they held East Bengal FC to a draw in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday.

East Bengal FC started the game strongly and opened the scoring through Raphael Messi Bouli. However, they went down to 10 men during injury time of the first half after Dimitrios Diamantakos picked up a straight red card.

Bengaluru FC made the most of the numerical advantage by putting on pressure but missed their chances. However, they were rewarded for their efforts when Sunil Chhetri converted at the death, securing a point for Bengaluru FC.

Zaragoza acknowledged the challenges posed by East Bengal FC, considering the game was a must-win for them to reach the playoffs.

“After winning three matches, East Bengal FC must have hoped to arrive to the playoffs, and they started the game in one level more than us. I told my players that this will happen but also said that be careful because it’s too hot and this could go against us because we played two games in a row,” he said in the post-match press conference as quoted by the ISL official website.

The result saw Bengaluru FC extend their unbeaten run to four games, having won three of them. Having kept a clean sheet in their previous three matches, they trailed against East Bengal FC but battled brilliantly to take home a point.

“East Bengal FC started winning the duels (in the first half). We were too far apart between the lines. Something that I hate. I like my team to be together and play as much together as possible if we want to press high. We need the defenders to be high. And they have two strikers, two really good strikers. And then our defenders went back, and we had a lot of space between the lines.. Then I think we changed a little bit, and the red card helped us. But even like this, it’s not easy. You’re playing against one team who is leading 1-0.. Today, we had chances to score. We didn’t score. They had some counter-attacks to finish the game. But finally, one point for each team is what we deserve today,” he said.