Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to face a player of Neymar’s calibre: Des Buckingham

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham reckons it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to face a player of Neymar’s calibre. The Islanders are all set to face Al-Hilal, which Neymar has recently joined, in the AFC Champions League.

Mumbai City FC has been grouped with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Iran’s FC Nassaji Mazandaran, and Uzbekistan’s Navbahor in Asia’s elite football competition.

Meanwhile, Al-Hilal has added players like ​​Neymar, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksander Mitrovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and Malcom to their squad. The Saudi team has won the AFC Champions League on four occasions and thus Mumbai City will have their work cut out.

“Players want to play against the best and when they get an opportunity to do that. It’s an exciting opportunity for our club, for the players to come up against not just Asia’s best, but some of the world’s best players,” Buckingham said at the press conference following the AFC Champions League 2023-24 draw.

“Neymar is obviously the standout in there. Then they have Neves from Wolves, you’re looking at Malcolm, Mitrovic again from Fulham. It’s exciting to play against those types of players saying that might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or hopefully might be twice now on the group stage for us in our club,” he added.

The Englishman added they will try to give their best in the tournament and come up with a collective show against quality teams.

“All we can do is make sure that we put the best account of ourselves in the competition. We’ve seen what we were able to do last year allowed us to, but the results and the points that come with that. It allowed us to go into Pot three this year instead of Pot four in this competition. And, it’ll be the same this time if we can collect the results that will give us additional points for Asian competitions,” Buckingham said.

Buckingham added that it will be a great opportunity for players to get the exposure of playing against the best in the business and make the most of this experience.

“I think when you can bring the world’s best players and have the opportunity for them to visit India. It’s not just great for our football system to get people turning their eyes and attention to what happens here. It will give people the opportunity to come and see these players close up and see the level and quality of players on the field,” the Mumbai City FC gaffer stated.

Mumbai City FC will begin their AFC Champions League campaign against Iran’s Nassaji Mazandaran FC on September 18.