Stranded for more than a month, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal coaches and players return home

Stranded for greater than a month attributable to nationwide lockdown, the overseas gamers of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, together with their coaches, on Tuesday left for his or her properties following an arduous 29-hour bus experience from. The 13-member group, comprising principally of Spaniards, made a quiet exit from India within the wee hours of Tuesday by a specially-arranged Dutch Airlines flight from New Delhi. They will journey to their respective properties from Amsterdam.

Kibu Vicuna, who guided Mohun Bagan to I-League title, mentioned he would like to return quickly to have fun the success with football-crazy Kolkata followers. Vicuna-coached Mohun Bagan received their second I-League title with 4 rounds left earlier than the I-League got here to an finish due to coronavirus-forced lockdown.

“When normalcy returns, I would love to come back and celebrate with all the players, fans, club officials and members,” the Spaniard was quoted as saying by the official web site of All India Football Federation simply earlier than departure.

“None of us ever really got the opportunity to say our goodbyes properly. It was all over the phone. I am a person who likes to do this kind of thing face-to-face,” he added with a tinge of remorse. The 48-year-old obtained the success in his very first season in India however paradoxically he needed to go away the membership which was acquired by Indian Super League successful ATK, a group coached by Antonio Lopez Habas.

“It has been a fantastic year for me — both personally and professionally. I feel I now feel complete as a coach. When we won that last match against Aizawl, we were so happy. We all celebrated with the fans,” mentioned Vicuna who will coach ISL facet Kerala Blasters this coming season.

There was the return-leg derby left however the COVID-19 pandemic by then had stalled all of the sporting actions, together with I-League. “The Derby was still at the back of our minds, but we would never have thought that that would have been our last match,” the Spaniard mentioned.

“I would like to thank all the fans of Mohun Bagan. We got so much love throughout the season, it’s absolutely unbelievable. I feel like I am leaving a piece of my heart back in Kolkata.”