After AFC Cup exit, Bengaluru FC look on to the Indian Super League

Bengaluru, October 19: Bengaluru FC failed in their bid to reach the AFC Cup final but head coach Albert Roca is optimistic that his side can only get better in the season and can win the Indian Super League, which begins next month.

"There is less than a month to go for the ISL," Roca said after BFC's heartbreaking loss to FC Istiklol at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday (October 18). "It is going to test our efforts in that and as much as we work hard, we can take the trophy from there."

The Blues lost their two-legged AFC Cup Inter-Zonal Final against the Tajik side 2-3 on aggregate. They played out a 2-2 draw in the second leg at home but had lost 0-1 in Dushanbe last month.

.Bad refereeing ends @bengalurufc @AFCCup dream https://t.co/YyiJBsTF8W #BFC

— myKhel.com (@mykhelcom) October 18, 2017

Although the Blues failed in the continental tournament, Roca felt his side can only get better in the coming months. "What I see is that the team does not give up no matter what, so I am hopeful that it will only get better from here on for this team," he said. "In terms of football, we have a long road ahead and we will have few changes as the season begins," he added. Roca hoped his team could put the defeat behind them and turn a new leaf.

Star striker and captain Sunil Chhetri said it was one of those games where his side did everything to get a win but to no avail. Asked what was the talk in the team at half-time following Harmanjot Khabra's second yellow, Chhetri said: "It was really difficult, at half-time the talk was just to go out there and give our best. And once it began I saw Udanta (Singh) was on the go, he was all over the place from one end to the other that pushed me to do the same."

Not much I can say about last night. We threw everything we had at them but still fell short. Cannot say sorry enough to our fans.

— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) October 19, 2017

Roca said it became difficult for the team to continue for rest of the match with 10 men. He said he would not entirely blame Khabra, but in crucial matches players need to be cautious. "The second yellow cost us a lot but it did not cost the opponents much who committed similar action and it's unbelievable. But these are things we have to live with and yes we had to pay for our actions," he said.