Odisha FC head coach Sergio Lobera was proud of his players’ resilient effort despite a 0-1 loss against Mohun Bagan Super Giant at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in Kolkata in the ongoing Indian Super League on Sunday.
The Kalinga Warriors were able to keep the Mariners at bay for the first 90 minutes but Dimitri Petratos scored in the injury time to give all three points to his team.
Meanwhile, Odisha FC had 43.1% possession and took two shots on target. The visitors did a good job in defense but conceded the goal in the dying seconds of the game.
“Yes, it is difficult. Because today, when your players are giving you 100%, the only thing I can tell them is that I am very proud of them because we compete very well. Against a very strong team in this sort of an environment, even when down to 10 players, we compete well. When you, as a coach, analyze the game and analyze the work that my players did, the only thing I can tell you is that I am very proud of my players,” Lobera said during the post-match press conference.
The Spaniard also shed light on his team’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs and said they are going to fight until the end despite this loss.
“We are going to fight until the end. Let’s see what happens. Obviously, with today’s loss, it is more difficult, but we are going to fight until the end—it’s our spirit. In four games, we played with ten players. It’s so difficult when you are competing against strong teams with only ten players. It is difficult, but we need to continue working until the end,” he shared.
The gaffer urged his players to give their best in the last two games in order to keep their top six hopes alive.
“Obviously, it’s tough when there are key players who are going to be missing from the team for upcoming games. When you don’t have the full squad, you have problems. Today, when Diego (Mauricio) woke up, he couldn’t train because he wasn’t well enough. When this kind of situation happens, obviously, we cannot try to find excuses. We need to try to find solutions as coaches. We are going to continue to compete well, even in these kinds of situations,” the Spaniard stated.
Odisha FC will next take on Mohammedan SC at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar on Friday.
