Antonio Lopez Habas, on Friday, announced his pleased with this year squad, as Atletico de Kolkata hope to defend their Hero Indian Super League title.
Atletico de Kolkata begin their title defence against Chennaiyin FC in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
Defending Champions Atletico de Kolkata resuffled their squad during the offseason and look to have a much more stronger set of foreigners than last year when they won the inaugural Indian Super League title. The ATK management has retained Josemi, Ofentse Nato and Borja Fernandez from last year, but had released two of their superstars Fikru and Edel Bete, both of whom have signed up with Chennaiyin FC. New signings like Portuguese striker Helder Postiga, former Kerala Blaster hero Iain Hume and Javi Lara will look to give them an edge.
ATKa s technical advisor, who was responsible for signing the Indian players, seems to failed to upgrade the Indian contingent. despite signing few India internationals like Jewel Raja, Izumi Arata and Rino Anto. The likes of Nadong Bhutia, Sushil Singh, and to certain extent Syed Rahim Nabi, who is past his prime, hardly srike fear among the opposition.
Antonio Lopez Habas seemed pleased with the result from the preseason camp in Spain, but injuries to key players since coming to India will keep him on his toes.
a We had a good pre-season in Madrid. I am very happy with their performance and happy with the my squad. We have a really good team,a said ISL winning coach Antonio Lopez Habas.
Fans waiting for the ISL to kick off after a year of waiting could not have asked for a more explosive line-up in the opener.
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