FC Goa suffered their third consecutive loss in the 2025/26 AFC Champions League-2 season as Al-Nassr defeated the Gaurs 2-1 at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa. Despite being two goals behind early in the first half, the hosts rescued one on the stroke of halftime and showed incredible determination throughout the second half to add a second.
The majority of FC Goa supporters, including head coach Manolo Márquez, would be pleased with the way his team performed against the Saudi powerhouses, even though they lost! Not only Goa fans, but Indian football lovers, would be pleased to see Goa give their all against Al-Nassr. This is what Manolo Márquez said after the brave performance against Jorge Jesus’ Al-Nassr.
Manolo Marquez on the performance:
The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcel Brozovic from the game dominated the pre-match buzz. Nevertheless, the Saudi team still had a strong international contingent, with Joao Felix, Sadio Mane, Inigo Martinez, and Kingsley Coman among the players who travelled. Despite Jorge Jesus benching Felix, Coman, and Mane, Al-Nassr led by two goals after only 25 minutes of play.
However, FC Goa fought back and was quite strong defensively since then, repelling every threat from the opponents. They had opportunities going forward as well, but were unable to equalize. Here are Manolo’s thoughts on the performance.
“I’m really proud of the effort of the players, especially because we didn’t start the game very well. They were better in some minutes, but I think that with the goal that we scored with Brison, I think we played a good game. The only thing that we can do is congratulate the players. Every Indian player, foreigners also were very good.”
“It’s not the summary of the game but we finish with three corners for us. I feel that we can do something more across the board. I’m very, very satisfied, very proud of the effort of all the team. In terms of performance of the team, it’s difficult as a coach to be prouder than today.”
Manolo Marquez on Brison Fernandes:
Brison Fernandes, a Goan native, joined FC Goa’s youth squad while he was fifteen years old. Since then, he has ascended through the ranks to the senior team, where he had a standout season last year under Manolo Márquez. And today, he demonstrated why the Gaurs refer to him as a their own “Starboy” by scoring FC Goa’s first goal of the Champions League campaign against an Al-Nassr team that had kept two clean sheets in their previous two games. Manolo Márquez was full of admiration for Brison and reiterated why he has always rated the Indian youngster so highly.
“I love Brison. As a player, as a person, he is fantastic. He is a top guy. I don’t know if you remember, you will remember one press conference two years ago when someone asked me who is the best Indian player that you coach, I said Brison but he doesn’t play.”
“But now he is a top professional. Now he is playing, I think I spoke about this in one press conference, he is playing with the bad ankle, with pubis, with some small problems in the knee and he keeps going.”
Manolo Marquez on FC Goa fans:
Many Gaurs could be spotted in the stands supporting FC Goa in spite of Ronaldo’s absence and the expensive ticket costs. Although they were delighted to see Al-Nassr’s renowned players play, their hearts remained with FC Goa, as seen by the noise in the stadium when Brison scored the goal. Manolo Márquez praised the fans, but he still hopes to see the same in the club’s ISL games!
“It’s my third season here. I think it’s the second time that I heard the crowd shouting FC Goa, Goa, Goa. They are a lot of noise usually but cheering the team and pushing was very nice. Today they were supporting the team completely. The only thing that I didn’t like is they cheered for the other player but it’s normal.”
“Finally the crowd will come if the club, if the team perform good and if we are fighting for good things. When you start to play football, you want to play this kind of games with this crowd in the stands. Now maybe we will come back to the reality of Indian football.”
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