Wonderful to see fans come in large numbers; the atmosphere was electric: Hyderabad FC coach Manolo Marquez

Hyderabad FC and Mumbai City FC played a superb game of football in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23, as it was a tense finish as the result came down to a 3-3 draw. The game was played at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on October 9.

The defending ISL champions started on a dry note in the first half and through a Chinglensana Singh own goal, but skipper Joao Victor went all guns blazing and scored from the spot in added time of the opening half to equalize. The second half saw end-to-end action as Halicharan Narzary added his name to the scoresheet while Victor scored another goal. The Islanders, on the other end, made amends through Greg Stewart and Alberto Noguera.

At the post match press conference which was attended by the Hyderabad FC coach. Manolo Marquez, he showered praises on the fans for coming in large numbers to support the team. He said that the atmosphere was electric, and it was very good that the fans were back in stadiums after two years. He went on to say that he had a feeling that it would be a game in a bio bubble environment, but it was difficult for the players to hear each other in the stadium that was packed to the rafters and where the decibel levels were at an all-time high.

I was confident that we would be able to turn the game after halftime – Manolo Marquez

He went on to talk about what he said to the players in the half time break which was the turning point of the game for his side ‘I think we entered the second half in a good way. Some players, such as Yasir (Mohammad), played a fantastic game. I think that I’m extremely happy with the performances of some players because we had a difficult pre-season, and now I am very satisfied with the performance of the team. Our team stuck together in the best as well as the worst moments, which is very difficult to do’.

He added that a high intensity game like this early on in the season will bode well for the players and this will help them to do better in crunch situations. ‘I was thinking about the match so much that I was sweating a lot because it was incredible, even when we were losing, we had the feeling that we could turn the score’ he added. Manolo Marquez has tagged Mumbai City FC as his favourite for this season.