FC Goa's jinx against Bengaluru FC continued as it slipped to a 1-0 defeat in the Indian Super League final on Sunday, its third loss on the trot to the same club.
The Goan side was reduced to 10-men at the fag end of the first half of extra time when Ahmed Jahouh was shown a second yellow card and coach Sergio Lobera rued that to be the turning point. " The key moment was when we were reduced to 10-men in the first half of extra time. It was a very tight game and was going to be a matter of small details and the sending off was a big handicap for us," he said in the post-match conference.
"It is tough to lose the game this way. Bengaluru did not break our style of game and we performed the way we wanted to. We had a very good game and I'm very proud of the work of my players," he added.
When asked on why he brought Hugo Boumous with little left on the clock, he said: "Jahouh got sent off and I had to maintain six Indian players on the pitch and that didn't let me bring Boumous on earlier. From the four foreigners, two were centre backs, one was (Edu) Bedia and the other was (Ferran) Corominas. Boumous is more of an attacking player, so it was different to make that sub with a man down."
Lobera now has his eyes set on the upcoming Super Cup, where his side lost in the semifinal last year."Tomorrow onwards we will focus on the Super Cup. I told the players in the dressing room that I'm proud of themselves and the season. They have been very professional. It's sad that we cannot take the trophy to Goa, but we have to thank our players because they have been amazing," he said.
The Spaniard has been linked to the vacant Indian national team coach job, but ruled out the possibility. "It's always very nice to be linked to a national team of a great country like India, but I have one more year contract with FC Goa," he said.
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