Mohun Bagan Super Giant will need more than the support of a jam-packed Salt Lake Stadium to get the better of Odisha FC when the two meet in the second leg of the ISL-X semi-final on Sunday.
The ISL Shield winners lost the first leg 2-1 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar last Tuesday and cannot afford any more slip-ups. Odisha have been a difficult customer to deal with for Bagan this season. In the five matches the two have played, Bagan have only one victory. Two games ended in a draw.
In the first leg, Bagan took an early lead through Manvir Singh but strikes from Carlos Delgado and Roy Krishna brought them back to earth after the high of ISL Shield triumph. "After the Shield victory, it was natural that our players were a bit low in intensity. Still, I think they played a wonderful match," Antonio Lopez Habas said at the pre-match news conference at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.
"Playing at home does not make us overconfident. We have lost the first match but we have one more match. It's absolutely possible (to enter the final). We are here to win and we don't have any other option," the Spaniard added.
Both Bagan and Odisha, coached by Sergio Lobera, will be missing key players. Bagan frontliner Armando Sadiku and Odisha FC's Delgado got red cards in the first leg and thus are ruled out of the Sunday contest. "That means it's 50:50," Habas quipped.
Manvir Singh though said Delgado's absence will help the Bagan frontliners. "We will be able to move forward more freely," he said.
Bagan's main worry will be a known devil. Roy Krishna has tormented his former club every time he played against them. Be it in the Bengaluru FC shirt (last season) or Odisha. He scored for Bengaluru FC against Bagan in last year's playoff final. This season in the AFC Cup match at the Salt Lake Stadium, which Odisha FC won 5-2, the Fijian had a goal and two assists. Last Tuesday also he was on the scoresheet.
Habas said he would rather focus on the team than on one player. But he hinted Bagan may switch from three-back to four-back formation to counter the Krishna threat. "He is a massive player and yes that's a possibility (four-back system). But I always focus on the team, not an individual."
