JAN 30 I VOL.

VII

Good evening everyone,
It’s that time of the season where the
margins begin to get finer and the fight, more
intense. And today will be no different as we
host NorthEast United at the Fortress. Like
us, they are one of the few teams that banks
on moving the ball around the park and
games between sides with similar
philosophies are often interesting.
We come into today’s fixture on the back of
our first defeat of the season, away to
Mumbai. It was disappointing to see our
unbeaten streak end, but like I have always
stated, our big goal is to seal a play-off spot.
We stepped into the game knowing exactly
what Mumbai would look to do. And while we
had the option to sit back and defend, we
chose to go out and play. It didn’t work for us
on the night, but I cannot credit my boys
enough for the way they tried. Injuries
haven’t been kind to us and we were without
Miku, Nishu and Rino and despite these
setbacks, the commitment from the squad
has been fantastic. The game also marked a
special moment for young Edmund Lalrindika
who joined the squad from the Bengaluru FC
B team. We have a great deal of talent on that
team and I’m glad I can give them chances to
contribute to the senior side.
Coming back to today’s game, we’re thrilled
FINE
MARGINS
MISTER’S NOTES
like always to play at home and more so
when it’s after a break as long as the one we
have had. While our fixture schedule is
crammed, the only flipside about playing this
soon is that we don’t have too much time to
dwell on the loss. Instead, we have just
enough time to sit and assess what we need
to work on, for the game against NorthEast.
We played out a 1-1 draw in Guwahati when
we last met NorthEast and that was a game
where both sides refused to give much. I’m
not sure if that approach would change given
the both of are us are vying for a spot in the
top four. What I do know is that the football
played will more than just make up for
the effort of coming to the Fortress on
a Wednesday.
There are games when our plans fall in place
perfectly. And there are those where they fall
short on the night. But the one constant you
will see every time Bengaluru FC takes the
pitch, is the desire with which we chase a
win. The intent won’t change today. Hope to
see you in big numbers!
Love,
Carles Cuadrat

FIGHT FOR THE FOUR
The Blues dropped down to second place
in the standings behind Mumbai on goals
scored after their loss to the Islanders.
Meanwhile, NorthEast's late win over
Chennaiyin puts them in third on the table
just four points behind the Blues with
five games to go. With six teams still in
contention, tonight’s result can shape
the race.
HOME COMFORTS
Having lost their first game of the
campaign on Sunday, Cuadrat's men will
be eager to not just get back to winning
ways, but also get their first win of 2019.
NorthEast won't be an easy opponent
for Bengaluru but Cuadrat’s men will look
to bank on home advantage where the
supporters have pushed them to four wins
in six games in the ISL.
PREVIEW
BEST-EVER CAMPAIGN
With 23 points, NorthEast United are
having their best season ever. Having
failed to make it to the play-offs in four
past seasons, the Highlanders have taken
the field with renewed vigour this time as
they look to grab their first-ever play-off
spot in the Indian Super League.
LACK OF GOALS
The Blues have missed Miku for the most
part of the season, and in the last five
games have managed to score only five
times. NorthEast, on the other hand have
been heavily reliant on Bartholomew
Ogbeche, but have only netted three in the
last five games. Given the numbers,
tonight's game might just be decided by
that odd goal.
HIGH INTENSITY
When both teams faced off for the first
time back in December, they played a
high-tempo game with almost identical
stats. In fact, the only place where the
Blues had an upper hand was crossing
the ball into the box, but NorthEast
countered that with their interceptions.
We can safely expect an end-to-end
game tonight as well.
BENG
SQUAD

URUF
1 I GURPREET SINGH SANDHU
2 I RAHUL BHEKE
3 I ALBERT SERRAN
4 I SAIRUAT KIMA
5 I JUAN GONZALEZ
6 I ERIK PAARTALU
7 I MIKU
8 I KEAN LEWIS
10 I HARMANJOT KHABRA
11 I SUNIL CHHETRI
13 I RINO ANTO

ENGA
14 I DIMAS DELGADO
16 I MYRON MENDES
17 I BOITHANG HAOKIP
18 I SEMBOI HAOKIP
19 I XISCO HERNANDEZ
21 I UDANTA SINGH
22 I NISHU KUMAR
23 I SORAM POIREI
27 I CHENCHO GYELTSHEN
28 I PARAG SHRIVAS
32 I ADITYA PATRA
33 I GURSIMRAT SINGH
35 I AJAY CHHETRI
37 I EDMUND LALRINDIKA

HEAD COACH
CARLES CUADRAT

ASSISTANT COACH
GERARD ZARAGOZA
GAL
NORT PAWAN KUMAR
MISLAV KOMORSKI
PROVAT LAKRA
PAWAN KUMAR
I
I
I
I
1
3
4
5

CB
JOSE LEUDO I 6

HEAS
LALREMPUIA FANAI I 7
GIRIK KHOSLA I 8
FEDERICO GALLEGO I 9
BARTHOLOMEW OGBECHE I 10
REAGAN SINGH I 12
TP REHENESH I 13
ROWLLIN BORGES I 14
KIVI ZHIMOMI I 15
GURWINDER SINGH I 16
MATO GRGIC I 18
ROBERT LALTHLAMUANA I 19
KEEGAN PEREIRA I 20
RUPERT NONGRUM I 21

LU
REDEEM SINGH I 22

TUNIT
NIKHIL KADAM I 23
JUAN MASCIA I 24
SHOUVIK GHOSH I 26
PANAGOTIS TRIADIS I 27
GURMEET I 31
LALTHATHANGA KHAWLHRING I 32

HEAD COACH
EELCO SCHATTORIE

ASSISTANT COACH
SHAUN ONTONG

SQUAD
RUFC
NOT ONE FOR A KO
CAN’T KEEP
HIM DOWN
He’s Grown A Self-Confessed Fondness For Things That
Come The Hard Way And Rahul Bheke Is Quick To
Attribute Every Bit Of Success To A Scar That Reminds
Him Of The Quest…
here’s no tune that blares on the
speakers as he walks into the
arena, let alone an entourage or
shorts with his name emblazoned in gold;
but Rahul Bheke is every bit the boxer –
one who strangely scores his points not
by how many he’s landed, but by how
much has been inflicted on him. By his
own admission, he’s reluctant to drop a
shoulder for fear of losing out on the
lesson the punch could teach him.
Like most first chapters that professional
footballers turn back to, Bheke’s dalliance
with the game began in school. But the
rest of his voyage took more than just a
little detour before he reached where he
intended getting to, in the first place.
“Would I have preferred a simpler route?
All I’ll say is that my mates from school,
who were twice as talented footballers as
I was, aren’t in the sport anymore. We
dived into football together, but they all
seemed to have alternate career options.
Not me,” says Bheke, with a hint of
gratitude. Selected to attend exposure
camps in Italy and Denmark, priorities at
home meant he missed the plane on both
occasions. He’s missed a lot of ‘planes’
since then, but it’s never deterred him
from wanting to take flight.
Naushad Moosa, Head Coach of
Bengaluru FC B, had Bheke on his squad
when he was at the helm of the Mumbai
FC U18s and he doesn’t recall the boy
ever missing a training session despite
having to commute two hours one way by
train, every single day of the week.
Bheke’s first switch to a club outside
Mumbai came in 2015 with a move to East
Bengal and life in the club’s yellow and
gold shirt was far from easy. “I was
shuttling between the stands and the
bench during the club’s CFL campaign
and it took a suspension for them to turn
to me,” recollects Bheke. Never one to
harbour bitterness, Bheke grabbed his
chance and scored a winner in his first
game against SAI, the equaliser that
sparked a revival in a 4-3 win against
Kalighat and then topped it with the
sweetest one of them all – a goal in the
derby. “They couldn’t drop me even if they
wanted to, after that.”
Strangely, most of Bheke’s stories follow
an eerily similar pattern – anticipation,
disappointment, opportunity and success.
The defender recalls sitting in the café at
East Bengal along with his teammates,
watching the Indian Super League draft
that they were all a part of. “One by one,
everyone around me got picked up by an
ISL club till the draft was done. I wanted
to go to my room and cry.” But a
mid-season call-up from Kerala Blasters
BE
EDFC
to replace an injured player was just the
chance Bheke needed. “I was told I would be
taken to make up the numbers and I was fine
with that. You can give me any reason you
want to, just give me a chance along with all
those reasons.” Needless to say, the bench
wasn’t the place for him in Kerala.

Bheke says the move to Bengaluru FC was

the best thing that happened to him in
professional football. “Every single thing is
different at BFC. I could list it all down
compared to every other experience I have
had and then it would make more sense,”
he says.

But his big moment came miles away from

the city of Bengaluru. “I missed out on that
tour to Milan and the chance to see San
Siro as a kid. I had a passport with a
five-year validity then and it just expired
because I kept aside the dream of setting
foot inside a big stadium. Then two years
ago, we were in Spain on our pre-season
and on our way to Alicante, took an
unscheduled detour to Camp Nou. I was
standing inside the stadium of my favourite
club and I didn’t need to raise money to
make it there. These are small
things, but they make you
grateful for what football
has given you.”
NOT ONE FOR A KO

Football, Bheke says, has also taught him

to shed bitterness when things aren’t
going the way you want them to. “Was I
disappointed at not making the cut for the
Was I disappointed at
AFC Asian Cup? Yes. Was I bitter? Not at not making the cut for
all. When I saw how people from all over
the country – and these are the ones I
the AFC Asian Cup? Yes.
don’t even know – call for me to be in the Was I bitter? Not at all.
team, it felt nice. That respect I received, I
can never put a value on it.”
When I saw how people
Moosa recalls an incident from 2009
from all over the
where the Mumbai FC U18s had traveled country – and these are
to Phagwara to play the JCT juniors.
“Sukhwinder Singh was the national team
the ones I don’t even
coach then and was coming to watch the know – call for me to be
game. In a bid to get the best out of the
boys, I told them he would be watching
in the team, it felt nice.
from the stands. Rahul had a howler of a That respect I received,
game and I later realised that while my
intentions were good, I may have made an I can never put a value
error in judgement by letting the boys on it.
know. He struggled to shake that
performance off.”

Ten years on, Bheke missed out on what
was India’s biggest dance on the
continental stage, but Moosa wants the
boy to get credit for the way he’s dealt
with the sorrow this time. “If he was
hurting inside, you couldn’t tell. On the
outside, Rahul was a player who was
giving one hundred percent at every
training session for Bengaluru FC. It says
everything you need to know about him,”
says Moosa.
You also couldn’t tell that Bheke had lost
his father 48 hours before the game
against Mumbai on Sunday. The boy flew
to Mumbai, performed the last rites in his
village, then flew back to join the team in
Bengaluru before making his way to
Mumbai once again, and then onto the
NOT ONE FOR A KO
pitch – all without revealing any hint
of grief.
“Before football, I used to loiter on
every street around home, sit on the
roofs of local trains and do some
very stupid things. Then one night in
bed I asked myself what I was
making with the one life I’ve been
given. In one single instant, I
embraced football and it embraced
me back. I’ve seen a lot in a little
time and football has always been
the answer,” he says.
The anticipation and disappointment have
been swept under the rug. The pattern
now calls for a chance and we all know
how that pans out when Bheke gets one.
 DIMAS ROWLLIN

MIDFIELD DUEL
The battle between Dimas Delgado and Rowllin Borges in the
middle of the part will be one for the galleries as the Spaniard
takes on his Indian counterpart, who is known for his defensive
work as well as his ability to move forward and contribute in
attack. With two goals and two assists to his tally this season,
Borges is the fulcrum of Eelco Schattorie’s team and it will be
intriguing to see him come up against Dimas.

JUANAN OGBECHE

ATTACK v DEFENCE
With 10 goals in 13 games, Ogbeche has climbed to the top of
NorthEast United’s goalscoring charts and is their highest ever
scorer in the ISL. A poacher of the finest order, the Nigerian has
played across clubs in France, UAE, Spain, Greece, England and
the Netherlands before making the move to India. The 34-year-old
proved a handful for the Blues’ backline in their 1-1 draw earlier
this season and as a left-sided centre-back, Juanan will be handed
the task of man-marking the NorthEast United striker.
DEC
31 5
OCT
1 NORTHEAST
SCORER: GALLEGO
UTD
1 BENGALURU FC
SCORER: CHENCHO

LAST MEETING

GOALS FOR BFC

3 2 1
GOALS FOR NEU
GAMES WINS DRAW
v NEU FOR BFC

RECENT FORM BFC RECENT FORM NEU

W W W
D D D D D
L L

The Blues have had four NEU have won a total of 23 games
goalscorers against NEU with in the ISL since 2014, while the
Miku, Chhetri, Juanan and Blues have won 21 games since
Chencho finding the net. their debut in 2017.
 REWIND
BENGALURU FC 2 -
JUANAN 14’, CHHETRI 51’
oments before kick-off in last year’s
fixture between the Blues and
Highlanders at the Fortress, Sunil
Chhetri pulled Juanan Gonzalez over to hand a
few final instructions. It was perhaps fitting
that the duo would go on to score the goals to
give Albert Roca’s side a 2-1 win and three
points that would propel them back to the top
of the leaderboard.
Edu Garcia’s first half free-kick into the area
was glanced home at the far post by Juanan,
sending a packed Kanteerava Stadium into a
frenzy. The Blues would then maintain the lead
only for referee Om Prakash Thakur to point to
the spot after Subhasish Bose was adjudged to
have handled the ball in the area. Sliding in to
prevent Len Doungel’s advances, the left-back
inadvertently gave the visitors a chance to
equalize deep into first half injury time.
Marcinho stepped up and made no mistake as
he sent the ball into the roof of the net.
1 NORTHEAST UTD
MARCINHO 45+7’
Roca’s team talk may have changed with the
late goal, but it was one that worked as the
Blues took just six minutes to claim the lead
again. Khabra sent in a low cross that Avram
Grant’s defence couldn’t clear in time and
Chhetri, square-jawed and determined, was
lurking for the pieces.
At the near post with a defender and a
goalkeeper in his way, the skipper sent a
half-volley low and into the far corner from
the most acute of angles to put the smiles
back on the faces of 15,000 Bengaluru fans.
Nervy moments would follow for the Blues
as NorthEast continued to show their
physicality inside the box with their
set-pieces, but Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
plucked every loose ball out of the air and
with John Johnson standing firm at the back
alongside Juanan, Bengaluru would hold on
for the win.
ONE MORE REASON
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SPANISH DUET

TÊTE-À-TÊTE
WITH ALBERTO
AND JUANAN
They Might Never Quite Learn To
Speak In Kannada, But In
Bengaluru, The Blues’
Centre-Halves Have Found A Place
To Call Home…

On Bengaluru, the city.

AS: Bengaluru is a big city with very nice
weather and though it is quite crowded, we
feel safe and welcome here. Every journey
around the city is an experience for us and
we enjoy it a lot.

JG: Bengaluru is the best city in India,

because the people here are very warm.
When I need help with something, there is
always someone. I’ve travelled most of the
country with the team and for me this is the
best city. I am very happy here.

If you were given a day off, what would

you most likely spend it doing?
AS: On Sundays my family and I like to go
out for brunches and maybe meet some
friends. But, on a normal day we would
choose to visit something new in the city.

JG: When my family is in the city, I like to

check into a hotel and spend time with
them in the pool. But otherwise I’m fond of
traveling and visiting the temples or the
mountains. I really like exploring temples
because there’s so much culture to discover
there. I have spent a lot of my free time in
India exploring the many temples that they
have here. It’s one of my favourite hobbies
and I’m so fond of it that I got a temple
tattooed on my arm!
Of all the places you have traveled in
India, which one is your favourite so
far and why?
AS: It's difficult to choose just one place.
We have been in Kerala and Agra. We loved
the beaches in Kovalam, the backwaters in
Kochi and Allepey, and the sunset in Agra,
with the Taj Mahal as a background, was
unforgettable. We’re looking forward to
discover more places as we love to travel.
JG: For me, the Shiva temple is the best
and I’ve been there more than a few times
with my friends. I’ve visited the temple all
by myself too, several times, because it
gives me a sense of peace.
How did you manage to get along so
well with your defensive partner in
such a short period of time?
AS: As soon as we played the first friendly
game in Valencia, I realised that I was going
to enjoy playing next to Juan because we
complement each other very well.
We have the same idea about how to defend
and how to build up the game. He's a great
partner to play with, and our experience
playing in different countries made the
adaptation much easier.
JG: The most important thing is the
language, the communication and the
tactics. When you play in Spain, all the
coaches have a similar mentality. When he
pushes up, I must go back a little for cover,
and we do that well among ourselves.
What kind of music do you listen to
before a game?
AS: On the way to the stadium, I like to
listen to different types of music that
makes me feel calm, but one of my
favourites that I cannot miss is the
‘Gladiator’ soundtrack. It gets me ready for
the battle. Then when we reach the
dressing room, Miku is our DJ for all the
Latin music and he takes charge of the
speakers for all of us!
JG: Flamenco is my favourite type of music
and I’m always listening to it before the
games. They may not be very famous in
India, but Niña Pasatori, Demarco, El
Barrio are some of my favourites. It gets
me in the mood for kick-off quite easily!
You spend a lot of time taking public
transport in the city. Has your
understanding of culture changed
since moving to India?
AS: Every day we see something different
on our way. We never get bored and every
journey is unique in a special way. We used
to take the rickshaw but recently we tried
the metro and it’s a great option.
JG: The day I arrived in Bengaluru, I
thought ‘wow, this is crazy’. But I went
from using public transport to even driving
myself when my family was here. I was very
scared initially, but now it’s very easy for
me. It’s funny because when I go back to
Spain, I feel that’s different and what’s here
seems normal!
How has your family taken the move to
India? Do they miss Spain often? Or is
this an adventure that you are
enjoying every moment?
AS: My family has adapted to India very
fast. My wife enjoys being here because she
is a photographer and every day there is
something new to capture. For her, India is
like paradise.
My daughter is going to school here and
she's doing different activities in the
afternoons. We felt really welcome right
from the beginning and I think that our
experiences in different countries before
has helped us a lot.
JG: My daughter always says she wants to
come back to India! The most important
thing in life is that you are happy, and here
in India and in Bangalore, my family and I
are very happy. My son is only two years old
but I’m sure that if he could talk, even he’d
tell me that he wants to come back here!
AT THE TOP
P W D L GD PTS*

1 13 8 3 2 9 27

2 12 8 3 1 9 27

3 13 6 5 2 3 23

4 12 6 3 3 10 21

*as of 28 January 2019

CREATORS

FIVE THREE THREE TWO THREE TWO TWO TWO