Bengaluru FC will be keen to put behind the opening-day loss to ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) when it takes on Bashundhara Kings in an AFC Cup Group D clash in Male on Saturday.
Kings, the Bangladesh Premier champions, are coming off a 2-0 win over Maziya S&RC in their first group stage game.
“We’re up against a team that scored 55 goals in the League and are champions,” said BFC coach Marco Pezzaiuoli, ahead of the match.
“They conceded only nine goals in the League, and won their first group game 2-0. They are compact at the back and counter very well. Our plan will be to maybe go backwards a bit and create space behind them to score goals and create chances.”
Pezzaiuoli felt that the defeat to ATKMB would not set the team back, more so when the squad has seen significant upheaval in the summer. “I choose to take the positives. We had almost 70% ball possession. I think we only need to improve in certain aspects. We want to better our free-kicks and corners, and create better chances and finish them.”
The Kings made their AFC Cup debut last season in a campaign that was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic and retained the 2020-21 Bangladesh Federation Cup in January, and this season the team scored 67 goals in all competitions.