We fought till the last second: NorthEast United FC’s Juan Pedro Benali after loss against Chennaiyin FC

NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali expressed his satisfaction that they fought till the last second against Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on Thursday after international break.

Nestor Albiach was able to put the Highlanders in front in the fifth minute but a brace from Wilmar Jordan and a spot kick from Luka Brambilla gave a 3-1 lead to the Marina Machans. 

Alaeddine Ajaraie scored in the 89th minute for the home team as Benali’s men didn’t give up but ended on the wrong side of the result.

“We fought till the last second. In some moments we were playing very good football. We were very dangerous with space. The problem is we don’t keep doing the same thing,” Benali said in the post-match press conference.

“We do it. It works. It happened to us against Kerala Blasters FC. Same. We do things. It works. And suddenly we stop. And we change. We don’t continue in the game plan. This is our mistake,” he continued.

“We scored 1-0. We need to keep our position. Just be calm in set pieces. We didn’t. But I’m proud that the team, even with 3-1, keeps pushing and pushing and going. Players on the bench, players inside, everybody was doing the job. We had chances to score again. But this is the beauty of football,” he further added, sharing his assessment of the match.

Meanwhile, NorthEast United FC’s defenders could not keep the opposition at bay, especially from set pieces.

“We’ve been training, defending the corners and the fouls for the last six days. Minimum, minimum, we did it; I don’t know how many times. But if it’s not one, it’s another one. We know that the danger was that.”

“(We’ve conceded) three goals in set-pieces. We cannot admit that. It’s not good for us. It’s not good, it’s not good, especially when you work, you work, you work, you work on it. And you go to the field, and you don’t do it. Then after, if some player was out or something, you cannot blame me,” he carried on.

Speaking on home fans, Benali said, “The fans today were fantastic. Incredibly fantastic.”

“We pushed; we did our best. We were unlucky sometimes. We did some mistakes; we apologize for it. Looking forward for the next game,” he signed off.

NorthEast United FC will next take on Jamshedpur FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on 26th October.