ISL 2019-20 | Bengaluru’s Erik Paartalu happy to come back and get three points

ISL 2019-20 | Bengaluru’s Erik Paartalu happy to come back and get three points

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Bengaluru FC's Australian midfielder Erik Paartalu expressed his happiness to come back from the injury and to get their first win of the season. Meanwhile, Chennaiyin's Lithuanian striker Nerijus Valskis apologised to the fans for their third loss of the season against Bengaluru FC 3-0.

In the southern derby, defending champions Bengaluru FC beat Chennaiyin FC 3-0 to register their first win of the season after three consecutive draws. Goals came from Erik Paartalu and captain Sunil Chhetri in the first half, while substitute Semboi Haokip found the final goal.

Australian midfielder Erik Paartalu, who missed the start of the season with an injury, expressed his happiness to come back and score the goal for securing their first win of the season. 

“It’s a great feeling. Obviously, I’ve been out for a couple of weeks and missed the start of the season. But I’m happy to come and do my bit for the team. It’s a good feeling to get all the three points. I think we were a bit unlucky in the first three matches. We had three-point from three draws and now we’re just going to keep climbing the table now.” said Erik Paartalu in an exclusive post-match interview with indiansuperleague.com. 

Champions Bengaluru played attacking football from the first minute and Paartalu became the first goalscorer in as early as the 14th minute with a brilliant header. Furthermore, captain Sunil Chhetri found his marks at the 25th minute for his first goal of the season.

“I think the goals came at the right times, particularly in the first half. If you score a goal early on it helps the team. We look to put pressure on the teams from minute one and it worked for us today.” Said Paartalu.

Meanwhile, Chennaiyin FC’s Lithuanian striker Nerijus Valskis, who was signed this season, apologised to the fans for their disappointing loss. Chennaiyin FC are left winless this season so far, with only one point in four games.

“I need to say sorry to our fans. We played very bad today. They controlled the game for 10-15 minutes and we didn’t come back into the game. It was difficult after two goals to come back to the game.” said Nerijus Valskis in the post-match interview.

Chennaiyin FC are also yet to score in their last six games in ISL and the Lithuanian spoke about the goal-scoring drought “ I think we gave them too many set pieces and corners. They were very strong, and this was a big problem today.”

However, the forward was also confident for Chennaiyin’s come back after the international break. “We wanted to win this game to get some confidence for the future but we must learn from this game and come back stronger “ the striker concluded.

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