ISL 2022-23: 'Happy because this team has shown incredible character' - Ferrando after ATKMB's ousts OFC
By Ayush Gupta | First Published Mar 5, 2023, 11:18 AM ISTISL 2022-23: ATK Mohun Bagan gave a splendid performance to tame Odisha FC 2-0 in the second Knockout fixture, moving on to the semis. Meanwhile, ATKMB boss Juan Ferrando was impressed by the character displayed by his side.
Indian football giants ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) displayed great character to plunder Odisha FC (OFC) 2-0 in the second Knockout fixture of the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday. As a result, the Mariners have sealed their place in the semis, where they will take on defending champion Hyderabad FC (HFC) in a two-legged tie on March 9 and 13.
While Hugo Boumous's 36th-minute strike from Manvir Singh's assist gave ATKMB the lead, Dimitri Petratos sealed the conquest in the 58th, thanks to a fine assist from Carl McHugh. In the meantime, the Mariners' win hugely delighted head coach Juan Ferrando, who was impressed by the character and personality shown by his boys.
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"At this moment, we have some problems. I hope we recover well in the coming days and try our best. Honestly, I'm happy because this team has shown incredible character and personality in difficult situations, and they have tried to control the moments of the match. It is most important. But it isn't easy to talk about if we are more ready than last season because it's a different situation. The last season was in the bubble, and many things have changed," Ferrando stated after the victory.
On the other hand, OFC manager Josep Gombau urged his players to learn from their mistakes and begin their preparations accordingly for the next season. Although he highly acclaimed ATKMB's grit and resilience, which he felt led to its success, he deemed lack of concentration from his players as the reason for failure.
"We had a good game. In the first few minutes, our team played well, we got a good chance to score with Diego Mauricio, and after that, we conceded a goal from a sharp corner. It's something that we worked on and have spoken about. But we lost this concentration for a short time and conceded the goal in the second half. We tried to score, but in one of these actions in our build-up, they recovered the ball, made a quick transition and scored. After that, it was complicated," explained Gombau.
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