Having clinched three points from their previous fixtures, FC Pune City and Mumbai City FC will now lock horns at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. In what would be the first Maharashtra derby of the fourth edition of Indian Super League (ISL), coach Ranko Popovic is hoping that his side can continue netting plenty of goals.
‘’We are scoring goals, we are trying to score. Even in the pre-season, apart from the first match, we had goals in every other game. And we will try to do the same but in football, you can never say what will happen,’’ he commented.
With four fixtures (two home and two away) in a span of just 11 days, the gaffer believes that it is difficult for his side to regroup. However, he doesn’t want to make a case for it and hopes that things turn out well for The Stallions.
‘’The schedule is very tight for us - we have four games in eleven days; I don’t like to use this as an excuse but we don’t have much time to make things better. Now is the time to refresh, to recover and work on the mentality of the boys. I hope it turns out good,’’ he explained.
Both teams have come up against each other a total of six times in the ISL and the Arjun Kapoor-co-owned side has an edge with three wins, two losses and one draw. Popovic expressed that his troops must always aim for three points irrespective of the opposition.
Next Match
‘’Both of us (FC Pune City and Mumbai City FC) have three points but it is behind us now. We (FC Pune City) must look for what’s in the future. In football, we only live in this moment. Everyone wants to be better than the other but three points are important to us just like they are to Mumbai City FC. I hope we continue to be in the winning way as we are here to achieve something. Whoever the opponent is shouldn’t matter because we are here to put up a good performance and win the game,’’ he signed off.
