ISL 2018-19: Mumbai City FC coach Jorge Costa concedes tie to FC Goa after 5-1 demolition at home in first leg

Mumbai: Mumbai City FC coach Jorge Costa believes that there will be no miracles when his side takes on Goa in the second leg of the semi-final after being beaten comprehensively in the first leg on Saturday. Mourtada Fall’s brace and goals from Jackichand Singh, Ferran Corominas and Brandon Fernandes gave Goa a 5-1 advantage going into the second leg in Goa on Tuesday. Mumbai, who have conceded 12 goals against Goa in three games this season and only scored once, need to score at least five goals or more and beat Goa by a four-goal margin to progress to the final. [caption id=“attachment_5454651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jorge Costa. Twitter@MumbaiCityFC[/caption] However, speaking at the post-match press conference, Costa threw in the towel and said that he doesn’t expect his side to beat Goa next week as he does not believe in miracles. “Our dream finished tonight. I don’t believe in miracles. I don’t believe that we have the potential to go (to Goa) and change the result. We must go there to respect our job, to respect the club and to do our best. To be honest, this is over. Congratulations to Goa and good luck for the final,” the Portuguese manager said. On asked to react to Costa’s admission of defeat in the semi-final, Goa coach Sergio Lobera said that he agreed with his opponent’s assessment of the tie. “I react to that with maximum respect because if I was in his position, I would have said exactly the same thing,” Lobera said. Mumbai were the better side in the opening 30 minutes and deservedly took the lead through Rafael Bastos in the 20th minute. However, Goa struck through Singh and Fall to take a 2-1 lead into half-time. The Islanders shipped in three more goals in a listless second-half performance. Costa admitted that his side committed too many mistakes and were rightfully punished by the ever-efficient Goa for it. “I think we almost dominated the first half. We went to half time 2-1 down. In the second half, we again made mistakes and when we do that against a team like Goa, with the quality that they have, you cannot expect anything else but to lose.” Costa was in a bitter mood following the humiliating defeat in front of the home support and took exception when asked if Mumbai erred with their tactics. “As you can understand, I am not in a good mood. So if you want to ask me something direct, ask me. “If we had to play now, I will do exactly the same thing. Exactly the same first XI, exactly the same plan for the game. I know it’s too easy after the game to find new Jose Mourinhos and new Guardiolas. The difficult thing is to take the decision before the game,” Costa said. During the match, Costa and his Mumbai players were visibly angered by some of the refereeing decisions. Bastos was booked for arguing with the referee and each time a decision went against Mumbai, Costa would animatedly react and berate the officials. However, he refused to give his take on the decisions taken by referee Hamad Ali Yousef Abdulla Alali and his team. “Forget the referees. I don’t want to speak about the referees. I will not give him the moment that he wants. No.” Despite the rather tame end to their season, Costa said that he was proud of his side’s achievements and hoped to build on their performance next season. “For me and for us, it would have been much more comfortable to finish the league fifth, sixth or seventh. But we took risks. With all the problems we had in the season, we beat the best teams in India to be here. This is not the result that we wanted but I’m very proud of the entire season. “Now we have one more game to play and then we have the Super Cup. The next season, we need to be a better team, better than this year. And we will be back again here to fight for more,” Costa said before signing off.