AFC Cup 2018: Upbeat Bengaluru FC to begin their campaign against Altyn Asyr


XtraTime Web Desk:
Bengaluru FC to begin theirĀ 2018 AFC Cup campaign resumes, as they take on Altyn Asyr from Turkmenistan in the inter-zone play-off semi-finals.

This will be new head coach Carles Cuadrat’s official debut after he took over from Albert Roca who returned to Spain following the Blues’ Super Cup win and qualification for the knockout stages of the AF Cup.
Cuadrat is no stranger to the club, though. He had served as Roca’s assistant in the I-League and the ISL.

“We have been working for more than one month now,” Cuadrat said. “We prepared at our training camp in Bellary and, after that, we went to Spain for a training camp. I’m really happy with the attitude of the boys and the staff as they get ready for the game.”

For the Blues, it is a new season. However, the Turkmen side are in the middle of their season and sit second in the Yokary Liga. They only had a break for the World Cup but have since resumed their campaign.

Will that make a difference to Bengaluru who last played an official competitive fixture back in May?

“I’m really happy with the preparation,” the Spanish coach said. “The players have been working hard over the past few weeks. I think we are ready to be competitive.”

Bengaluru FC played four pre-season friendlies in Spain over the past couple of weeks which included games against high-quality opponents such as Villarreal B and Barcelona B.

“The tough games in Spain gave us a lot of minutes and taught us how to play such games in that level of competition.”