Mumbai, October 12: After a fantastic last season in which they finished third, Mumbai City FC will aim to lay their hands on the Indian Super League (ISL) trophy as the sixth season gets underway from October 20. Head coach of Mumbai City FC Jorge Costa from Portugal is positive that his revamped side will give it their all to achieve this target. Mumbai City FC Squad for ISL 2018–19: Mumbai Team Players, Full Football Fixtures Schedule, Team Details, Dates and Timetable for Indian Super League Season 5.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the Portuguese coach in the last season was adapting to Indian football. One year into the job, Costa looks more comfortable and confident with his team.

"Adapting to the football and to the culture here in India was my biggest challenge. I‘ve worked in different countries around the world but this is a different challenge.

"Last year was my first experience in Asia and I'm here to change things. This is what the club expects, for me to change and improve some things. I'm not here to be a boss; I hope to deliver what the club expects of me and that I can bring some of my experience," said the 47-year-old. The Portuguese coach believes that Mumbai City FC have an improved contingent this year.

"We have a better team this year. I am very happy with the squad, as we have more options and we're confident that we will perform better than last season. However, we have to work hard every day to get better and better. Sometimes we have to play few matches without much of a gap and sometimes there will be a long break between matches. But I have faith in my team and trust my players to be ready for any situation," said Costa.

Mumbai City FC did not have the best of starts last season, winning only one of their first four matches. Costa soon picked up the pieces and Mumbai City FC remained unbeaten for their next nine matches. Indian Super League 2018–19 Schedule in PDF for Free Download: List of Full Football Match Timetable, Date, Venue & Time of ISL 5.

"During our pre-season in Thailand last year we won almost all of our games. But when the league started we realised that we had a lot of work to do. I realised that my team was not so good and the level was much more than I expected.

"It was my mistake, the level of football is much better than I thought. Naturally, it was a lesson learnt the hard way and I want to make sure that we don't repeat this mistake this season."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2019 12:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).