Mumbai City FC Want to be First Indian Team to Win a Game in AFC Champions League: Des Buckingham

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham wants to do something that an Indian club has never done, win a match in the AFC Champions League.

“This is the second time an Indian club has been at this level. Goa showed what we can do, they got 3 points from 3 games with 3 draws. We want to do what no Indian club has done before. Which is to win a game. That would be creating relative history for us. We know we are representing not just the city of Mumbai but the whole of India,” Des Buckingham said during a press conference ahead of their first game.

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The Islanders were crowned ISL Champions in the 2020/21 season and also finished top of the table to lift the League Winners’ Shield – becoming only the second Indian club to secure participation in Asia’s biggest club football competition.

MCFC were drawn in Group B in the West Region and will face Al Jazira (UAE), Al Shabab (Saudi Arabia), and Air Force Club (Iraq) in the 2022 AFC Champions League.

Mumbai City FC will go up against Al Shabab in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday and Buckingham said it is “exciting to face this challenge.”

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“Al Shabab have a monetary value of players 5-6 times more than us. That puts the match-up into context. But you cannot afford to look at that and give up. Teams that we will come up against are the best in Asia, so it will be exciting to face this challenge. We have many players who haven’t competed at this level before. We know we have to smart but at the same time we need to find a structure that allows us our style of play,” Buckingham added.

Mumbai City FC’s AFC Champions League fixtures –

Mumbai tasted morale-boosting victories during preparatory camp in Al Forsan, a 2-1 win over UAE Pro League’s Al Ain and 2-0 victory over Al Hilal United.

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