KOLKATA: Chennaiyin FC are on a roll with five wins on the trot and the secret behind their turnaround has been a defeat to Atletico de Kolkata in one of the earlier rounds here, head coach Marco Materazzi said.
"The last game that we lost (vs ATK in a round robin encounter) was not actually a defeat but it was something that gave us strength to start all over again and I hope we did it," the star Italian said on the eve of their second leg semi-final against Atletico de Kolkata here.
The southern team have put one foot in the final after their thumping 3-0 win over ATK in the 'home' leg semis in Pune Saturday.
Chennaiyin had lost 1-2 in the return leg league match against ATK here but since then they've not looked back posting five back-to-back wins, an ISL record. The big task will be on the defending champions ATK to overturn the massive deficit but Materazzi said they cannot afford to relax.
"Even as we know we have a pretty good advantage, we will give everything that we have. There will be about 70,000 people at the stadium and every good team will want to play well in front of such a crowd."
"Tomorrow, it will be ATK, which will have to bring something new, we just have to adpat to the situation."
ATK will be missing two of their star players in captain Borja Fernandes and Ofentse Nato who're down with hamstring injuries.
"It's important not to forget they're still the defending champions. I think whoever plays in their place will be willing to give their best."