I-LEAGUE Media Team

KOLKATA: Kingfisher East Bengal take on defending champions of the Hong Kong League Kitchee FC in a Group F encounter of the AFC Cup on Tuesday evening at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake.

While East Bengal lost their opening fixture of the AFC Cup 2015 1-4 to Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia, Kitchee defeated Balestier Khalsa, Singapore, 3-0.

“I saw East Bengal’s last match and how they went down to Johor Darul Ta’zim. We would want to exploit the defences like the way Johor did. It’s an away game so we will look to grab all three points,” Kitchee head coach Jose Francisco Molina of Spain was quoted as saying.

“They have a good attack line but for us all 11 players are the key. We usually play on grass but the artificial turf does not concern us.”

East Bengal will be missing key players including the likes of midfielders Harmanjot Singh Khabra and Lalrindika Ralte. While Khabra is out with an injury, Ralte has his national team duties to fulfil. Arnab Mondal, Saumik Dey, and Cavin Lobo are also in the senior camp in Guwahati, along with Abhishek Das, who is in the Under-23 camp.

“We are looking to build a sturdier defence this time around and so Raju (Gaikwad) will start instead of Gurwinder (Singh). We will miss Lalrindika but Joaquim Abranches will fill in his boots,” East Bengal head coach Eelco Schattorie said.

The Dutch gaffer would be looking to start the Nigerian pair of Ranti Martins and Dudu Omagbemi upfront in the attack, and the new Coach would be particularly happy with Ranti’s form after the talisman scored five goals in a Hero I-League game against Dempo SC.

“It’s good that Ranti Martins (Nigerian striker) is in form. Never in my life have I been defensive, but we would be organised going forward and hopefully we can pull off an upset against a better team,” added Schattorie.

The game will be telecast on Star Sports 4 @ 6 PM IST.