For Bengaluru coach Alberto Roca, a former assistant manager of FC Barcelona, it has been a fairytale start in his stint as this was his second competitive match in charge of the side.
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But none of the missed chances would come back to bite the Indian champions who joined Dempo SC and East Bengal to become only the third club from India to make it this far in the competition.
In the return-leg Bengaluru goalkeeper Arminder Singh Sandhu turned out to be the hero for his team – turning out a sterling performance between the posts as he frustrated Jermaine Pennat, Billy Mehmet, Jordan Webb, Izzdin Shafiq, Hafiz Sujad, and company.
Bengaluru FC go into the AFC quarterfinal 2nd leg against Tampines Rovers with a 1-0 lead thanks to CK Vineeth’s goal. Bengaluru’s Spanish coach Albert Roca said in a release that his side would not be making much of their one goal advantage as he expects Tampines Rovers to come all guns blazing. Earlier, Tampines’ Muhammad Hafiz came close to giving the hosts a lead when he intercepted a poor pass from Nishu Kumar and set off on a free run before his strike drew a save from Amrinder Singh.
Tampines cranked up the pressure in the second half as they went closer and closer to scoring, floating risky balls into the box.
“We are only thinking of what we can do tomorrow, because if we don’t do our job, there is no point thinking about our opponents in the semifinals”, he added. “But we have to be prepared for that”, Roca said according to the release.
“Importantly, we want to give a good account of ourselves and be able to hold our heads up at the end of 90 minutes”.
“I don’t think it’s an issue that we haven’t scored in the last two games, and I would like the players to start doing so”.
Bengaluru coach Albert Roca, meanwhile, praised his side for surviving a tight battle. “We haven’t conceded a goal in two games, which is a good sign”. “It’s about the whole team being compact and defending and attacking at the same time and having a good balance”, observed the Spaniard. Amrinder did well between the posts.
Speaking on the upcoming semifinals, he said, “The semifinal is surely going to be even harder. The climate is a little too humid for our liking but we have players experienced enough to manage the situation”.
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“It’s one of the most important matches for us this season because we’ll be making history if we do reach the semis”.
