“We know that this is a repeat of last season’s final, but the ideal scenario is that we view it as the opening game of this season. We have studied them but we will be focusing on ourselves more and how we can make use of our strengths in this game,” said Cuadrat, speaking to the media ahead of the game.

The friendlies also featured experienced centre-back Albert Serran who is expected to partner Juanan Gonzalez at the back and lend the defence some much-needed stability. Things have slowly begun coming together for Cuadrat and he will hope his team don’t take too long to find their rhythm. What will surely help is the fact that the Blues assembled much earlier than most ISL teams given their AFC Cup commitments.

John Gregory’s midfield, meanwhile, was dealt a little blow after Dhanpal Ganesh was ruled out of the first phase of the League with an injury. Like Bengaluru, Chennaiyin too have shopped for three new foreigners this season in Eli Sabia, Andrea Orlandi, and Carlos Salom. But how the Englishman chooses to roll out his foreigners makes for interesting guessing.

Bengaluru’s attack will come up against the muscle and experience of Mailson Alves and Inigo Calderon which makes for a fantastic battle. Interestingly, both teams have conceded in every game they’ve played against each other and Sunday’s tie could stretch that statistic.