Mumbai City FC will look to end their four-match winless streak on Saturday when they take on table-toppers ATK at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
The Islanders coach Jorge Costa considers ATK to be the best club in India on current form but he exuded confidence in his players to beat Antonio Habas’ side on Saturday.
He said, “ATK are one of the best teams in India. They are playing really well. We are awaiting a difficult team tomorrow. But we know what to do. We can go back home with three points. My team can beat ATK.
"They are playing as a team and they have two players (Roy Krishna and David Williams) up front who have a lot of quality. But tomorrow we can't focus on just stopping these two players. They have nine more quality players. We will put pressure and with our quality, we will try to create problems for them.”
When asked if his team is under pressure before facing the league leaders, Costa replied, “If my players cannot deal with pressure then it is better to work in a supermarket. They know that there will be pressure as there are a lot of people watching. I cannot accept that football players cannot deal with pressure.”
Along with Chennaiyin FC, Mumbai have conceded the most number of goals (10) in the league this season so far. Addressing the team’s defensive woes, the Portuguese coach said, “We are making some mistakes that we will try to fix. We can fix. As a team, we are doing well but some individual mistakes are costing us the game. But we have got time to fix this and hopefully, we will finish where we want to finish.”
City Football Group (CFG), who also Manchester City, on Thursday bought 65 per cent stake in Mumbai City FC. On the deal with CFG, Costa opined, “I am very happy and excited to be a part of this deal. It will help us (Mumbai City) and ISL a lot. I want Bernardo Silva from Man City which is my priority!"
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