ISL 2018-19: FC Pune City's Miguel Portugal - I can't say we deserved a goal

It was the second defeat in a row for Miguel Portugal’s men as the Stallions were humbled 0-3 at home by Bengaluru FC.

The Spaniard was full of praise for the Blues and believed that they were better in all departments. The 62-year-old singled out Dimas Delgado’s performance and mentioned that it was of very high quality. 

“Bengaluru FC were better than us on the night. They scored the goals in quick succession. They played very well and passed the ball to Dimas (Delgado) most of the time and he had a very good game. We tried but the mistakes committed by our players were big, especially for the first goal. The second goal was due to Sunil’s precision.” 

Portugal found a speck of positivity in the team’s second-half performance and believes that he has found the right formation for the team. He went on to cite the game against Delhi where Pune played well in a 4-3-3. 

“We switched to a 4-3-3 in the second half but they were just better. I am happy with the 3-4 chances we created in the beginning. We did create chances. There was no lack of opportunities, the problem is regarding how we must play. 

“We have to improve in all positions. I think we played better in the second half after we shifted to a 4-3-3 and I’m happy about that. Even in the match against Delhi, we played well when we played a 4-3-3. I think this (formation) is good for the team.” 

The 62-year-old had no shame in admitting that they were clearly second best on the night. Pune and Bengaluru had similar statistics regarding possession, passing, crossing and total shots but Cuadrat’s men were a bar above the Stallions in terms of quality and that made all the difference. 

“Bengaluru’s and our statistics were similar, when you consider the passes, crosses and shots. But the difference was in quality. Miku had two chances and he scored a goal. He is the best player for Bengaluru and has been amazing so far. They also have the best goalkeeper in India and he did very well today.” 

Marcelinho came close to scoring on two occasions. His freekick had Gurpreet at full stretch and would probably have seen the back of the net any other day. But Portugal believes that they were dominated throughout and the result was a fair one. 

“Bengaluru had full control of the game but it’s possible that things could have been different if Marcelinho had scored that goal. But I can’t say for sure that we deserved a goal in this game.”