Ahead of HFC’s crunch clash against Chennaiyin, Manolo Marquez speaks about the result against Bengaluru, the challenges in the upcoming game, and more…

On the result against Bengaluru…

I am really proud of my team, not just after this game but for their performance in the whole season. We equalized, not because of luck, but because we believed in ourselves. We made mistakes that cost us goals but I think we deserved a point after that performance.

If we played another 10 minutes, we may even have found a winner. But when you are two goals down in the 85^th minute, you take a point, no questions asked.

On changing his system late in the game…

We created a fair few chances but failed to take them. It was never about changing our style of play. I think we controlled the game well but needed a few more attacking options to find the goal at the end of the game.

We pushed everyone in attack and BFC could have killed off the game on the counter. But with the pressure we created, I think it was a fair result in the end.

On converting a point into three…

Taking our chances is really important. We create chances every game but fail to take them, that has left us with only a point. Many people say that we play attractive football but for me, what matters is the final score.

Maybe we were closer to winning than losing these games but we now have four points more than four games ago, and we like to move on to the next game.

On HFC’s chances of qualifying…

We are 100% confident that we can make it to the top-4. For me, in terms of attitude and the effort they put in, I cannot ask for more from my players, during training and also in games.

I have seen improvement from my players in each of the last four games and like I said, we were probably closer to winning these games, than the opponents. So yes, we believe that we can qualify and that is how we will go into this game as well.

A word on Hitesh Sharma…

I don’t really like to speak about a single player because football is a team game. But yes, Hitesh is a really good player, a player who understands the game better than most in the country. He did make a mistake for BFC’s goal but his personality allows him to put that mistake behind him and perform well.

He is technically strong, is not scared to ask for the ball, and can play quick passes, all making him perfect for my midfield. Surely, for me, he is one of the best Indian midfielders in the Indian Super League at the moment.