East Bengal Head Coach Antonio Lopez Habas thinking about ACL Two after Kashi victory, criticizes Pune Pitch

East Bengal head coach Antonio Lopez Habas praised his team after a fantastic victory over Inter Kashi in the ISL 2026-27 encounter on Friday (October 23).

At the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium Complex in Pune, the defending ISL champions blew away Inter Kashi 5-1 with a dominating display.

Habas happy, but thinking about ACL Two

Habas made a few changes in the squad as he said beforehand, and insisted their preparation and focus have been on the AFC Champions League Two campaign.

"We are thinking about the next match in ACL Two, and I had to think about the workload, possible injuries ahead of the next match. I had to control the minutes. Our approach is to make the players understand their responsibilities better. All players attack, all players defend," Habas said at the post-match presentation.

Will Loba start in Oman?

Ake Arnaud Loba starred for East Bengal on the day. The Ivorian started and came away with a couple of goals and an assist.

"I have to talk with the players beforehand, but Loba is a good player, Lukasz and David also. It will depend on the situation of the conditions [in Oman]. We have a lot of matches, and we will have to rotate players for different competitions," the East Bengal head coach said when asked whether Loba would start against Al Seeb.

Habas criticizes Pune Stadium Pitch

Despite the victory, the Spaniard was not particularly happy with the pitch conditions at the stadium, and revealed it was comparatively better a decade ago.

"Indian football is changing. The pitch was better than it is now. Maybe, it hasn't had time for repairing since 2016. But I think Pune has the possibility to have one team in the ISL, but the conditions need to improve, not in this condition," he continued.

East Bengal have looked sharp in the ISL this season. In two matches, they have scored 9 goals and have got all six points. And the coach credits the level of training as the reason for success.

"Training every day has improved. The training session has to be similar to the match. We have assimilated the idea and the players are training every day with full intensity. I hope the team will continue like this all season. ACL Two is a different competition but the players will have to play in a similar way," he continued.

Phurba Lachenpa was not in the squad, and Habas clarified that his omission was just to rotate the squad, as the player is expected to be back in the lineup for the Al Seeb match.

After their match, East Bengal travelled directly to Mumbai from the stadium, and they will be catching their flight to Oman on Saturday.