Kolkata: East Bengal to host struggling Mumbai FC at Barasat in a difficult I-league fixture on Tuesday. East Bengal is wary of Mumbai FC as they don’t want to lose any points from here on. East Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattacharya was quoted as saying, “As Mumbai FC are struggling at the bottom of the table, they will always want to give us a scare. We have to be very careful on that.” In the first leg East Bengal and Mumbai FC shared points with a goalless draw at the Cooperage. East Bengal are desperate to continue their winning momentum and does not want to break that as this is a crucial phase of the league. In the past, it has been seen that Mumbai FC has been always a tough opponent for East Bengal. At the same time, it has been seen that post derby match has always been a difficult match for East Bengal. On the other hand, East Bengal midfield general Mehtab Hussain does not want to go by statistics. He quoted as saying, “The derby victory has boosted our confidence a lot. We want to look forward.”
Meanwhile, ahead of the Mumbai FC match Do-dong-Hyun is still recapitulating his derby brace and is still praising his “elder brother” Ranti Martins. Do-dong-Hyun quoted as saying,” If I get a chance to play, I will carry on my goal scoring form.” Mumbai FC trained at the East Bengal ground and attended a joint press meet at the club. Mumbai FC coach Khalid Jamil quoted as saying, “East Bengal are the title contenders. We will give our best to take away points from them. We have almost our full strength squad except Liberian Eric Brown who is unavailable for four yellow cards.”