Margao: Atletico de Kolkata's marquee player and star midfielder Luis Garcia is confident that they can beat FC Goa in Goa on Wednesday and reach the final of the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) season.
The first leg between two sides ended in a goalless draw and a win for either team will see them book a place in the final and take on Kerala Blasters for the trophy.
However, a goal-less draw will take the match to extra-time and a penalty shootout if the deadlock remains. But in case Kolkata score and the game still ends in a draw, the visitors will go through on away-goal rules.
So the hosts will have to either keep it goal-less and then hope to win in extra time or on penalties, or better still, get an outright win for a clear passage.
"We played a good game in Kolkata. Although the match ended goalless and Goa dominated, we were always in the game and defended very well. Now everything is open and it will be decided in Goa," Garcia said.
"We are very confident because we saw in the first leg that we can beat this team. We missed lots of players but many of them will be back for the second leg. We know Goa have their own strengths and a number of players with good quality, but we can beat them," the Spaniard added.
"An early goal will change things for us in the second leg and that will surely make the game very very interesting," said the former Liverpool midfielder.
In the first leg, depleted Kolkata failed to make the most of the home advantage and just about managed to keep the Goan attack at bay with some good defending. But Garcia feels that Salt Lake Stadium turf hampered their chances as it led to injuries to many players over the course of the tournament.
"We are saying from the beginning of the season that this turf is not very good for the players. We saw in the first leg Goa had a bad injury [Narayan Das]. We are so sorry for him because these kind of injuries are so bad for football. Hopefully he will recover soon and, of course, playing on natural grass is better," he added.
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