Home ›› 20 Jul 2022 ›› Sport
Bashundhara Kings won their third straight Bangladesh Premier League title on Monday, and their talisman Robson Robinho tasted ultimate success in the league for the second year running.
The 26-year-old attacking midfielder said that despite winning the league with two matches remaining, it was much more competitive this time around, and winning the title became tougher.
“A lot of the teams played well this season. The smaller teams held off the bigger ones. We lost the first silverware of the season, the Swadhinata Cup, to Abahani Ltd. We didn’t play in the second tournament, and Abahani won that too. Sheikh Jamal, Mohammedan, Saif Sporting, and Chattogram Abahani can beat any team. Without any doubt, the league got tougher this season,” he said on Monday.
Kings have won the league for the third year running, a feat which only Abahani Ltd achieved before.
Kings’ Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon also became only the second manager in BPL history to win three titles, after former Abahani coach Amalesh Sen won the league in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
Despite losing the first match of the season to relegation favourites Swadhinata KS, Kings staged a remarkable comeback, considering it a solitary incident and have gone unbeaten so far in this season, with only two matches remaining.
Robson revealed that the loss came as a blessing and pushed the squad to come together and play as a team.
“To be honest, we didn’t show up in that match. We boycotted the Federation Cup, and our focus got disrupted. Besides, the field in Tongi was not great. But that loss worked positively on us as we took it as a wake-up call and the team became more eager to play together. We realised that the league was going to be tough, and we needed to be up for it to win it again,” he said.
On Saturday, the Brazilian signed a new deal that made Bashundhara Kings his permanent home for the next two seasons, extending his contract till 2024.
The attacking midfielder joined Bashundhara Kings in August 2020, on loan from Brazil’s Fluminese before making the move permanent at the end of the season, scoring 24 goals in his first season.
He has scored 13 goals so far this season, but the impact of his performances has definitely taken Kings to the top.
His partnership with his compatriot Miguel Damsacena has been a delight, and the duo have combined for some sumptuous goals.
Robson, however, has explained his decreased goal tally by saying that the absence of a number nine has been a
considerable factor.
“It is because we didn’t have a number nine in the first leg of the season. So the opposition found it easier to target me. They used two-three players to stop me,” he said.
“The absence of Oscar Besera I think is another reason. He assisted many of my goals and we had a very good understanding. Besides him, Jonathan Fernandez delivered a good supply of balls to the forwards line. I missed them this season,” he added.
