Sunil Chhetri has spoken of his crushing disappointment in the aftermath of Bengaluru FC's loss to Chennaiyin FC in the final of the Indian Super League earlier this month.
"All the players struggled for the first few days, but it’s sunk in,” he said ahead of BFC's departure for the Super Cup in Bhubaneswar. “I've learned to move on from defeat and pick myself back up, but this game was different. It stayed on and it will for a long time. The trophy was something we really wanted to win and losing the way we did was a tough pill to swallow."
Read: Chennaiyin wary of 'young' Aizawl challenge
BFC will begin its Super Cup campaign against Kerala side Gokulam FC. "Going to Odisha feels good, because we won the Federation Cup there last year, and we also won convincingly against Jamshedpur in the ISL,” said Chhetri. “We played Gokulam in pre-season; they were a quality team then and I'm sure they've only improved."
After its first game in the Super Cup, BFC will travel to Guwahati for a Group E clash with Aizawl FC in the AFC Cup. "The coach has been very fortunate to be able to pick two teams this season; one for the ISL and another for the AFC Cup,” remarked Chhetri.
While admitting that the pain of losing the ISL final would linger on, the BFC skipper vowed that his side would bounce back. “I know that nothing I say can make a difference,” he said. “But I want the fans to
know that that what they sing from up there stands true, now more than ever. We are BFC and we aren't done. We'll pick ourselves up and we'll keep fighting. We lost the I-League title on the final day in 2015;
everyone remembers what we did the following season. It can never be an individual effort. You the fans and us the players, we're going to lift each other up and go again. It's the only way."
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