‘Iraqi rhythm, level was superior to us’

Ultimately it was not to be, for Bengaluru FC.

The I-League champions’ valiant charge for the AFC Cup glory ended with a 1-0 loss in the final at the hands of Air Force Club in Doha.

While few expected BFC to reach the depths of the competition, their performance in the final showed lack of experience playing at the biggest stage and against the stronger Western teams.

“From the first moment onwards I have to say that we were not comfortable on the ball. Also, all the Air Force players are at a level we cannot achieve right now. It is another kind of football that we have never experienced before and our players, without such experience, were too nervous and they showed from the first minute that it will be really difficult,” said BFC coach Albert Roca after the final.

“It’s also a lesson for us to see that if we want to achieve something, you have to upgrade. We have never played with a team from this area (West Asia) and we can see that the level and rhythm is superior (that) we don’t have. But we are on that way and the next time we play we should have more options to win,” he added.

“We knew that scoring a goal and defending it would be the only possibility to win the game. So we took risks but unfortunately when we tried to change the game they scored the goal and after that they had the control of the situation 0-1.”

‘Stronger Iraqi players’ “For the most part, Iraqi players are stronger than us physically. They really pressed us every time we had the ball. They had good balance between attack and defence. They are playing at a superior level. They deserved to win,” he added.

Despite the loss, the Spaniard, for whom the final was just his fifth game at the club, claimed he was proud of his players.

“We tried. I feel proud of my players. They deserved to be here. It was not our day and from now, it’s a beginning for a new era. We can see that competing at the level is even harder so we have tough work to do. We have to look forward to be again in a final and tried to do better.

“With the (I)league starting in January, I hope that things would be better. But today, it’s true we felt the lack of competition ahead of a game as big as this one,” he stressed.

Air Force coach Basim Qasim became the first manager to win the AFC Cup title with an Iraqi club which added to his status of being part of the first and only Iraq national side that qualified for the World Cup in the 80’s and the coach of the national team that won the Asian Cup in 2011.