East Bengal's Mario Rivera - I am not worried about relegation

BetOdds East Bengal v Aizawl East Bengal I-League Aizawl

The new Spanish coach suggested that the Red and Golds were the more dominant side and they deserved to win...

East Bengal succumbed to their fifth defeat of the season as they went down 0-1 against Aizawl FC on Friday in Kalyani.

With back to back defeats against Indian Arrows and Aizawl FC, the Kolkata giants are now struggling in the eighth position and are just three points above the relegation zone.

Yet Spanish coach Mario Rivera is not worried and remains optimistic of lifting silverware.

"I am not worried about relegation. I still believe we can become champions. We have 30 points to play. This situation is normal in football. Sometimes you score sometimes you cannot. Once you start winning the confidence will be back."

Rivera claimed that his team was the more dominant side and they deserved three points from the clash.

"I think we deserved to win. They had only one chance and they scored. We are disappointed of course because we should have won according to me. We played well for 70 minutes. We created more chances, we played better. But they scored after that. We will keep practicing and try to do better."

The 42-year old manager dropped under-fire Spanish defender Marti Crespi from the matchday squad. When asked about Marti's omission, the Spaniard said, "I came here with the best 18 players. I evaluate the performance of my players every week."

Young striker Vidyasagar Singh was introduced in the dying moments of the match and Rivera suggested that if Vidyasagar keeps working hard he will get more chance in the future.

"Vidyasagar (Singh) is training well now. He has to continue with the same attitude and he will, of course, get a chance in the future."

He quashed all rumours of Enrique Esqueda and Johnny Acosta returning and said, "Johnny Acosta is playing in his country and Enrique (Esqueda) is still injured so there is no question of getting them now."

2020-02-07 18:00:03

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