ISL 2017 : Ranko Popovic - Pune City were the better team

FC Pune City claimed the bragging rights over Mumbai City FC after winning the first Maharashtra derby of the season in Pune. Mumbai took an early lead through Balwant Singh but it was Emiliano Alfaro’s brace in the second half that sealed the tie in favour of the home side.

Pune's coach Ranko Popovic was satisfied with his side's performance as they claimed the win in the dying stages of the game but was quite vocal regarding the issues surrounding the decisions taken by the referee. 

"I don't want to comment about my colleague or the other side but it was clear to see who was the better team, it is my personal opinion but how I saw the match, Pune City was the team who made the chances and scored the goals"

"We were given many yellow cards before, I always try to be confident regarding my team, we try to play football without too many fouls and when we made some tactical fouls we are punished with a yellow card immediately. It is not our intention to play dirty, I'm really proud of my guys after going down we tried to take control and we tried to win, it's important because of the teamwork, it's not important how much you play but how you play," the coach said. 

It was the third game in a row without a clean sheet for Pune City. The coach said he knew about the problems and that his side would try to make things better. 

"We are working on it (clean sheets), before the goal we made some mistakes but after the win, I can say congratulations on the goal, it was a fantastic goal. If we had lost 1-0 I would still say it was a fantastic goal but I would not be happy," he said. 

Pune's star man Alfaro lauded the team's comeback performance and said it was a sign of things to come.

"We are a team and we work altogether to find a way to win, even if sometimes we are not in a good position to win, today was an example of incredible teamwork and I feel it was key to today's win."

"This win is very good for our confidence, even when we were 1-0 down we tried to play our game, it is going to go step by step," said Alfaro.