Bengaluru, Blasters gear up for ISL opener

Kochi: Simon Grayson’s Bengaluru FC are set to square up against Kerala Blasters as Indian Super League action returns with a fixture for the galleries at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
The Blues, who reached the summit clash in the most recent edition, will look to get their campaign off to a positive start against the Blasters, who controversially staged a walkout in protest when the two teams last met in the ISL.
The Blues were active in the transfer market, signing as many as eleven players over the summer. Grayson, in the press conference ahead of the game, spoke about the new-look side.
“I am really pleased with the squad we have at our disposal this season. We’ve got a competitive group of players with some really good characters. The foreign players who have joined us this season, and the players who have come up through the ranks gives us a very balanced team and I’m looking forward to the challenge in what will be a very competitive season,” Grayson said.
With skipper Sunil Chhetri away at the Asian Games, summer signing Curtis Main will be expected to start alongside club top-scorer Sivasakthi Narayanan in attack for the Blues.
It will be interesting to see how Grayson lines up his squad for Thursday’s fixture, with the likes of Slavko Damjanovic, Jessel Carneiro, Ryan Williams and Keziah Veendorp all staking claim for a place in the eleven.
“We have six foreigners to choose from and we can only play four at any particular time. But whoever is in that team, whether it is three foreign players and the rest are made up of Indian players, I will pick a team that we think will be competitive and try to get a result against a strong Kerala Blasters team,” Grayson added.
The Blasters, meanwhile, have made several changes to their own squad, with the likes of Pritam Kotal, Prabir Das, Milos Drincic, Daisuke Sakai and Kwame Peprah among their incomings. Kerala Head Coach Ivan Vukomanovic will miss the clash owing to his touchline ban, with Assistant Frank Dauwen set to handle the reins in Kochi.
The atmosphere at the JLN Stadium is bound to be electric, given the history between the two sides. The visiting manager also talked about their preparation to face the confrontational environment.
“All the players should be thriving and looking forward to this game tomorrow because it is the start of a new season and a new horizon for this football club and every other team that is involved as well. As a footballer, you want to play in these big games and you want to challenge yourself in front of hostile atmospheres and that’s what I’m expecting tomorrow,” Grayson said.
Bengaluru boast a better record in fixtures between the two sides, with the Blues having won 8 of 13 Indian Super League encounters against Kerala since 2017. The Blasters’ most recent win against Bengaluru came in this fixture last term, with Vukomanovic’s side claiming a 3-2 result in December.
Kick-off between the Blues and the Blasters is scheduled for 8 PM IST and will be telecast live on Jio Cinema and across the Sports18 Network.