ISL 2018-19: Bengaluru FC's Carles Cuadrat: Looking for first home win over Chennaiyin

As Bengaluru FC hit the reboot button in the 2018-19 Indian Super League (ISL) season, they face none other than Chennaiyin FC in their opening game on Sunday.

The Tamil Nadu team defeated them twice at home last season, including the all-important final. Newly appointed head coach Carles Cuadrat is well aware of the sentiment surrounding the game.

"It’s the first match of the season so it means there are a lot of expectations. For us three points are important. Our target is to win against Chennaiyin. We will try to play our best game and get the three points," Cuadrat said on the eve of the match.

However, the match was not all about getting sweet revenge stated the Spaniard. "You cannot mix the emotions of the two matches. That was the final we played and this is a completely new tournament and we are starting afresh.

"We just have to try to be better than them on the football pitch. It’s not right to bring the context of last year’s final."

He continued, "We will try to beat them and change the dynamics. It's football, it depends on a lot of things. Every game has their own history for example in the first games in the league, as away team, they scored very fast.

"The final was, of course, another thing because there is a lot of emotions. For tomorrow we want to just change the things. Hopefully, it will be our first victory at home against them."

Bengaluru ended the league phase last season on top of the table but Chennaiyin ended up winning in the playoff final. The 49-year-old felt that the opposition will be wary at the beginning of the game despite the 'champions' tag.

"Chennaiyin are coming here to defend their title. They will be strong mentally because they are the winners. They have a good record here so I don’t think they will take a lot of risks at the starting of the game.

"They will try to wait for us and then play on counter attack. We are working on our strengths."

Cuadrat took over the head coach's position after serving as an assistant to Albert Roca for two seasons. The former Galatasaray assistant coach revealed that he still has the odd chat with the former gaffer.

"Yes we have communications and we discuss the game. We miss Alberto (Roca). But he does not have all the information of the team like who is fit or how strong the players are mentally at the moment. It’s always nice to talk about football with him," he concluded.