Panaji: “Our last trip to Goa was one to remember”, Bengaluru FC appeared to remind FC Goa as the teams face off at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Friday.The teams have been involved in some memorable contests over the years. Like BFC posted on social media, the Blues walked away with a 2-0 victory the last time these sides met at Fatorda last season. In 2025, when the teams locked horns in the second leg semifinal, Goa appeared to be in the driver’s seat only for Sunil Chhetri to strike in the closing stages.“The players understand the importance of this game,” Goa assistant coach Shameel Chembakath told TOI. “The objective is to get three points. BFC is a very good team with plenty of experience and quality. We need to be organised and manage every situation. We need to be brave whenever we have the ball.”Goa are understandably desperate for a positive result against Bengaluru, one that will provide them “stability” and give enough time to iron out the flaws during the international break.Unbeaten after three games, Goa are sixth on the table with five points. They pocketed a win against bottom-placed Inter Kashi but it’s the two draws at home, against lower-ranked sides, that has stuck out like a sore thumb.“We have a mixed squad with many players who are young, from the lower divisions and the developmental league. We need time (to deliver) but that does not mean we are not focusing on every game. There are a lot of areas for improvement.“We are missing the final third end-product. Another concern which we discussed during our technical meeting is the (lack of) clean sheet. We have to manage games better: the last minutes, the second half when we start, and the first 10-15 minutes. We need to control the tempo,” said Shameel.According to team sources, defenders Ronney Wilson and Aakash Sangwan, besides midfielder Harsh Patre have been ruled out with injuries, while Spanish winger Jorge Ortiz and Prachit Gaonkar return to the team.Like Goa, Bengaluru are also one of the four unbeaten teams in the ISL, but they’ve won two of their three games. After opening their campaign with a 3-2 comeback win against SC Delhi and a 2-0 victory against Chennaiyin, the Blues were held to a draw at NorthEast United FC with Vinith Venkatesh scoring a 93rd-minute equaliser.“We know in Goa the conditions with the weather are a little bit different. Humidity, hot weather, so it will be a tough game, not only because of the weather, also because the opponent that we have to face is one of the teams that have better players to play good football. They do a lot of good things in games. They have Spanish players that I know quite well. I know how they play, and what they can offer,” said coach Pep Munoz.
