Margao (Goa) [India], April 7 : Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza hailed veteran forward Sunil Chhetri for the impact he made as his side secured a berth in the Indian Super League (ISL) final after beating FC Goa 3-2 on aggregate in the first semi-final.
The Blues came into the second leg with a valuable two-goal cushion courtesy of their clinical win in Bengaluru in the first leg. Despite the Gaurs leveling the aggregate score through Borja Herrera's free-kick goal and substitute Armando Sadiku's headed equalizer, Chhetri's flying header in injury time punched Bengaluru FC's ticket for the ISL Cup final for the fourth time in the club's history.
"The first half was exactly like what we expected. They (FC Goa) wanted to enter the game, and then we tried to control everything. They did crosses and shots, but nothing special. We wanted to finish the first half like this, 0-0, or at least score one goal. I think the first goal of them arrived too early, and that provoked us to defend, defend, defend," he said in the post-match press conference, as quoted from ISL.
"We really have a lot of players who are tired or injured. We had, in this case, Ryan (Williams) on the bench. Also, if it was a normal game, Noguera was not playing. But it's a game that he needs to play. We had Suresh with an injury, and Rahul (Bheke) also had a little bit of an injury. But when you have players like Ryan Williams and Sunil Chhetri, you can change them, put them in the second half, and kill the game at that moment. They kill the game, and as a coach, it's amazing," he added.
Bengaluru FC's tactics revolved around defending in numbers throughout the second half. Despite conceding two goals in the latter half, the visitors were resilient in their approach, displayed their grit and perseverance to capitalize on their chance as super-sub Chhetri sealed their spot in the final with a goal to remember.
"Football is about this. It's about these inches, to be at the right moment in the right second, and Sunil Chettri is like this. For that, we have him; we have these amazing foreigners. For us, we have this amazing defensive Indian line and the best goalkeeper in India," Zaragoza said.
Bengaluru FC is one step away from lifting the title. Zaragoza expressed his delight on reaching the title-deciding match, which will be played on April 12.
"We are BFC. We need to remember that we are 10 years in ISL, and we have played four finals. That says a lot, and now we are there," he stated.
"My concentration now is on (having a) party this night. That's my concentration. Then we need to recover. We need to recover a lot. And then, our idea: we want to play at home. We want to play at the Kanteerava," he signed off.
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