ISL 2020-21 | There will be no home advantage with empty stands, insists Manuel Marquez

11/21/2020

Hyderabad FC head coach Manuel Marquez has insisted that fans are the most important aspect of any football contest and there will be no home advantage for any team with empty stands. He added that it will be tough to predict the top three teams as all the teams in the league have similar standards.

After a disastrous inaugural season, Hyderabad FC will begin their ISL 2020-21 season against Odisha FC on Monday hoping to turn the tables this time around with Manuel Marquez at the helm of the coaching affairs. Ahead of their opening game of the season, Marquez insisted that no team will be having home advantage in this season of ISL with empty stands. He added that it is tough to predict top performers of the league as all the teams have a similar composition.

“Fans are the most important aspect of any football contest. Everyone will love to play in front of them. And, it will be the same for all the teams as there will be no home advantage,” Marques said speaking to reporters on a virtual press conference on Saturday as quoted by Sportstar.

“Overall the ISL is going to be tough and difficult to predict the top three teams which can be contenders for most of the teams have similar standards and combinations of foreign and young Indian talent.”

Marquez stressed on the challenges of delivering while living in a bio-bubble and stated that he would love to see his team win all the games even if they lose their first encounter.

“These are testing times for all of us including the support staff and the officials, especially to be away from the families during a pandemic. But, again, I would love to see my team win all the remaining games even if it were to lose the first game,” he said.

“Rising to the occasion and giving off your best will be the real challenge for the players more than the coaches.”