MUMBAI: Less than a year ago, when Carles Cuadrat was offered the managerial role at Bengaluru FC, he reached out to another former Barcelona man, Sergio Lobera. The two discussed Cuadrat’s prospects over a cup of coffee.
“Sergio gave me a lot of words of encouragement,” said Cuadrat, who had never been the head coach of a football club before. “He said I should go for it and that I will do well,” he added.
Nine months on, the two will go head-to-head in the final of season five of the Indian Super League at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday. “It will be a special final for me because it will be against a friend and a coach who has done a great job,” said FC Goa coach Lobera. “I’m looking forward to playing against Bengaluru, even though they have beaten us previously because I’m an ambitious coach.”
And it is fitting, given that they have been two of the most consistent sides this season. Bengaluru and Goa finished the league stage with an identical 34 points from 18 games, each of the teams winning ten, losing four with four ending in a draw. BFC finished on top on account of a better head-to-head record against Goa.
Cuadrat’s team won both encounters and more importantly kept the ISL’s all-time highest scorer, Ferran Corominas, quiet. “Going into the final, I don’t think we are favourites,” said the 50-year-old. “I don’t think there is any psychological advantage because of those two wins.”
Apart from being the top teams, both sides play a similar possession-based football, and both coaches believe the battle in the centre of the park will be the most important factor on Sunday. Another common thread is that both teams will be competing in their second ISL final, having lost the previous one against the same opposition despite taking the lead. While FC Goa squandered a 2-1 advantage in the closing minutes to go down 2-3 to Chennaiyin FC in 2015, Bengaluru’s inaugural ISL season in 2018 ended in disappointment by an identical 2-3 scoreline.
While the former I-League champions have justified the hype surrounded them by making the finals in both their seasons, Goa have improved remarkably this season. With Corominas leading the charge, they always had a lethal striker, but the team has worked hard to tighten up the defence. They had the most number of clean sheets (8) as well as the highest goal difference (19) during the league stages.
“For me, the biggest achievement has been the improvement of Indian players,” said Lobera. “They understand the team philosophy much better now. Whatever has happened is in the past. The final is a completely new game. We will either touch glory or die.”