FC Goa’s hunt for their first ISL trophy continues as they were eliminated from the semi-finals after a painful 3-2 loss on aggregate against Bengaluru FC. Sadiku’s equalizer was nullified by Sunil Chhetri’s stoppage-time winner, which advanced the Blues to the final. Here’s what FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez had to say after the result.
Manolo Marquez on the performance:
The overall result was more important than the Gaurs’ 2-1 victory on the evening. Bengaluru’s defence was extremely compact, and they nearly had every man behind the ball to maintain their 2-0 lead from the first leg. Borja pulled one back early in the second half while Sadiku equalized in the 88th minute for the Gaurs. However, Chettri scored the game-winning goal in the closing seconds, crushing the dreams of every Goa supporter, and the Blues won the match. Despite the setback, Manolo Marquez felt that his squad deserved to advance to the finals.
“We deserve to very clearly win this game. We deserve to arrive to the final. We were much, much better than Bengaluru, even than Bengaluru was at home. But sometimes this is football, and you have to accept it. We made a mistake in the last action, but I cannot say nothing. In some moments, my feeling was that it was closer to the third goal (of Goa) than the goal of BFC.”
Manolo Marquez on the referee:
The referee and his assistants made a few contentious calls that significantly influenced the game’s outcome. Aakash Sangwan may have been sent off for the Gaurs, and Dejan Drazic’s equaliser was disallowed for offside, although the video showed it to be narrowly onside. Manolo Marquez believed that every call made by the referee, with the exception of the Aakash incident, went against his team.
“Don’t ask me about the referee because I think it’s a big mistake of my friend Trevor Kettle, who cannot put this referee. He’s very young, without experience. The game was too much for him. He was completely nervous. I will be very clear. If you whistle foul, it’s second yellow card for Aakash Sangwan. All the other decisions were against us. Even the goal that they disallowed, I don’t know if it’s a goal or not a goal, I don’t know. But okay, without VAR it’s very difficult.”
Manolo Marquez on his time at Goa:
This marked Manolo Marquez’s final ISL match as head coach; the Spaniard will assume full-time duties with the national team starting in the following season. The 56-year-old manager spent two seasons in Goa following a good run in Hyderabad. His Goan team competed for the ISL Shield both seasons finishing second and third. Manolo talked about his experience with the Gaurs and his opinions on the season.
“It’s my last match at home. I am proud of my two years here because it’s difficult, but my feeling is that last season, without the injuries of Sandesh and Victor, the best Indian player and the best foreigner, for sure we would be champions of the Shield because we were unbeaten with 4-5-6 points advantage. But unfortunately, this is football.”
“And (this season) how we came back after we didn’t start very well, and finally we found an incredible team, Mohun Bagan, with a lot of points, but 48 points, usually these numbers are numbers of champions. Even we got 10 more points than the three teams, third, fourth and fifth. I’m very, very satisfied with the season. Very hard luck today. But this is what it is. Very, very proud to be in this club. And that’s all. Still the Super Cup, let’s see if we can get this trophy.”
Manolo Marquez on ISL trophy and Super Cup:
Manolo Marquez maintained that the ISL trophy is worthless since it does not grant the winner a spot in the AFC tournaments, regardless of his side being eliminated from contention to potentially win it. He said that the Super Cup is more valuable and that his team will do their hardest to win it and finish the season well.
“For me the reality is, Super Cup is more important because you have a slot from the Asian competition. Obviously, we wanted to get the trophy because FC Goa never got this trophy. But I can tell you that I have won, and it’s only one trophy. That’s all. No slot competition, nothing. With Hyderabad we won here, but okay, they have one trophy with one star. No more. I think that the good thing is to play in the Asian competition.”
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