Punjab FC’s head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis admitted they are really lucky to have the services of Luka Majcen. The Shers captain played an instrumental role in his team’s 2-1 win against Kerala Blasters in their opening match of the season in the Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi on Sunday.
It was a thrilling match as all the goal-scoring action happened in the later stages. Luka Majcen scored from a spot kick in the 88th minute to give a 1-0 lead to the visitors.
Jesús Jiménez then scored in the second minute of the stoppage time to equalize for the home team. Subsequently, attacking midfielder Mrzljak scored the winning goal in the dying seconds of the game to add more late drama.
“Luka is the captain of this team and a leader. He’s a great player but I have to say more about his personality. He is an amazing person. He didn’t complain about being on the bench but he realised that I might start with (Mushaga) Bakenga. He’s a great example for the young players who sometimes keep their head down and feel angry or disappointed because you don’t start them or you don’t get them on the bench. We are really lucky to have him. He scored and it’s amazing. Let’s hope that after the foul he received from the opponent, he will be ready for the next game,” Dilmperis stated in the post-match press conference.
The gaffer was happy with the team’s performance in the first half though they could not find the back of the net.
“In the first half, I think we controlled the game. The opponent had some chances to counter-attack. We built up (well). I don’t know about the possession, but we kept the ball. We had clear chances. We had some shots from outside the box… Some services (to the forward players) were not good. We were not really careful with the quality on the ball… in the last shot or pass,” he revealed.
“We believed that we would correct all these things in the second half, but the substitutes’ opponents confused us a little bit. Noah (Sadaoui) went to the left, where his strong position is, and things became hard for us because he was receiving the ball easily. One of the defending things that we wanted to do didn’t work because we wanted to stop him before he received the ball, and he created a chance with the sub (Jesus Jimenez) and some others but no real danger. After the 60 minutes, we started bringing substitutes after substitutes who helped us a lot. All the boys that came in the game did great, that’s why we scored,” he added.
Punjab FC will next take on Odisha FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi on Friday.
