It will be an emotional game for everyone,” Hyderabad FC head coach says ahead of the clash against ATK Mohun Bagan for a spot in the AFC Cup

Hyderabad FC are bidding their current head coach Manolo Marquez a final goodbye by playing against ATK Mohun Bagan in a one-off match to decide which team qualifies for the AFC Cup. The Club Playoffs will be played at the EMS ground in Kozhokode.

We saw Odisha FC win and progress through to the group stage of the AFC Cup 2023-24 as they defeated Gokulam Kerala in their respective tie.

Meanwhile, the winner of this match between Hyderabad FC and ATK Mohun Bagan will get a preliminary spot in the continental tournament. This is an important game for both teams but it also holds an emotional value for the Nizams as this is Manolo Marquez’s last game for the club. So they would surely be emotional and also hyped up to give him a nice farewell.

The teams have played each other four times and in the regular season, both have won one match each. In the semifinals, ATKMB progressed on penalties. Hence, Marquez feels that there is very little to separate the two teams.

“Obviously, it’s the last game, not only for ATK Mohun Bagan and Hyderabad FC, but also in the top division of Indian football. It’s true that the last (few) games were equal. In the regular season of the Hero ISL, both teams won one game each, and in the semi-final they won by penalties. The first-leg was equal but I think in the second-leg, they played better than us,” Marquez stated the pre-match press conference.

In the recently concluded Super Cup, Hyderabad FC started off with a win against Aizawl FC. They couldn’t continue the momentum but they showed great fight to come back from 2-0 down to end 3-3 against East Bengal. Lastly, they lost to Odisha FC to finish second in the groupstage.

ATK Mohun Bagan also had a similar outcome in the Super Cup, they rather lost against Jamshedpur FC and FC Goa and finished third in their groupstage.

Marquez feels that Juan Ferrando’s team has evolved from an attacking team to a more compact defensive unit. He expects it to be a cracker of a game as both teams have good defensive setups.

“Maybe in the regular season, they played a more offensive style but now they are very compact in defence. I think both teams conceded very few goals in the league. Even for us, it was very difficult to create chances during the games, even in the game where we won 1-0 (during the league stage in Hyderabad) when Bartholomew Ogbeche scored. Sometimes in football, when you lose something in attack, you win it in defence and vice-versa,” he concluded.