The Spanish coach of NorthEast United FC Juan Pedro Benali who joined the team last year May made a strong criticism of chief national coach Igor Stimac's recent comments. 

After a miserable exit from the AFC Asian Cup without a point and without even scoring a goal, Stimac commented on how the country's first team (senior national team) will win where the country's Under-19 and Under-17 national teams have no winning history in the AFC-organized Asian level youth competitions. 

Benali who worked as the technical assistant of the Finnish national team was critical of the comments and offered a befitting reply through social media. Benali said, "I heard the NT (National Team) coach complaining India did not win under-19, Under-17. How will they win in the first team? Well, it is easy. Come to see the games. Go to see the Under-19s. Make competitions for the reserve teams and then complain."

Incidentally, national goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has made an apology in the social media. He has written, ‘Asian Cup was a tough campaign and we did not do justice to the opportunity we had. I know in my heart we can do well against these sides. Of course things did not work out but that does not mean we give up. We are just really sorry for letting a lot of you down. We are India and we will be back.’ 

The Spanish coach under whose guidance NorthEast United defeated East Bengal in the ISL match on 10th February at home has taken an interesting initiative as a part of motivation for his footballers. 

When Mohun Bagan Super Giants and East Bengal clubs imposed restrictions on both the teams' respective fans to watch and cheer up their footballers in the training, Benila asked the team's fans to watch the team's training and encourage them after the training. 

Benila commented, “Our every performance and success is dedicated to the fans. So, if you are true fans of NorthEast United then come to the stadium to watch our training also along with the matches to encourage and cheer up the footballers.”

However, East Bengal received a big blow as the team’s key footballer Soul Crespo is likely to miss the rest of the season for the team. The central midfielder has reportedly gone back to Spain to recover from his injury and is expected to return to Kolkata on 18th February. 

But it is learnt that his return to Kolkata might be delayed as the footballer is reportedly willing to make a comeback after a complete recovery.