The AIFF academy cadet has carried his form to the AFC Champions League as well. It was a challenge of the highest order to face Qatari giants Al Rayyan in your very first AFC Champions League game. The Laurent Blanc managed outfit has the likes of Yacine Brahimi, who has played in the UEFA Champions League and La Liga, and tested Dheeraj right from the first whistle.
Within the first 10 minutes, Dheeraj was called into action a couple of times and he knew that it was going to be a long 90 minutes. And the keeper stood his ground and proved his mettle.
Football is about attacking and defending and the team was good in positional defence (against Al-Rayyan). I m happy about this. But we need to improve in positional attack. Now, the most important (thing) is the present and future. Al-Rayyan (game) is finished. Now we need to focus and continue in the same way, said the Spaniard.
Defending India s image in Asia
Ferrando revealed that he is familiar with Al Wahda head coach Henk ten Cate s tactics and wants to show what Indian football is all about to the Asian audience. I know the head coach of Al Wahda. He s a very intelligent coach. He was working in Barcelona with (Frank) Rijkaard. It will be a hard game. So for me, it s very important that everybody pays attention to the game.