ISL 2023-24: We disrespected the opponent – NorthEast United FC’s Juan Pedro Benali after draw against Hyderabad FC

NorthEast United FC’s head coach Juan Pedro Benali admitted they disrespected the opponent after their 2-2 draw against Hyderabad FC in the 18th match week of the ongoing Indian Super League at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday.

Parthib Gogoi scored the opening goal for the Highlanders in the 32nd minute from a long range. The visitors doubled their lead after Saji scored an own goal right after the half-time break.

However, the Nizams bounced back into the contest as Makan Chothe scored in the 70th minute of the game. The home team then equalized as Joao Victor scored after six minutes to help his team share a point.

Benali reckons his team lacked the hunger after scoring the second goal in the second half and it led to their downfall.

“You know, the problem is when we scored the second goal, we stopped being hungry. We disrespected the opponent. And when you don’t respect the opponent, even if you’re 2-0 up, you receive, and we deserved to receive the two goals,” stated Benali at the post-match press conference.

He added, “(After our second goal) we just stopped playing. We stopped pressing, we started walking, we thought that the job was done. But the game is a hundred minutes (long). It’s not even 90 minutes in this moment. And, well, big slap (to us) and congratulations to Hyderabad FC.”

NorthEast United took a total of eight shots on target but failed to score the winning goal in the last 15 minutes. Benali said the players lacked calmness on the pitch.

“When you’re stressed, you don’t have that calmness, you don’t have that cold blood that the real strikers have. We just got very nervous. We panicked in the area. That’s why we couldn’t finish it. It’s just that we need that calmness. That is what we’re looking for. The problem is we didn’t do the job before (when we had the chance to kill the game). Then after, it gets harder and harder.”

NorthEast United FC will next take on Punjab FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on Thursday.