‘Performing better than last season’

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The Hindu

Elano. Photo: M. Vedhan.

Chennayin FC player Elano Blumer sits down for a candid chat.

There was hardly anything that Elano Blumer did that went wrong in the inaugural Indian Super League season. Those fantastic free-kicks and inch-perfect passes sent the fans into a tizzy.

Cut to 2015, and the 34-year-old Brazilian, marquee player for Chennaiyin FC, has been unable to recreate the magic mostly.

Elano, however, disagrees with the perception, arguing that his role in the team is to assist than to score, and insists that he gets a lot of joy in providing passes for striker John Stiven Mendoza to convert.

“In my opinion, I am playing good or even better than the last season,” reiterates Elano in this interview.

Excerpts..

This season hasn’t been as great as last season, where you top-scored with eight goals

That’s normal. Because my role in the team is more of assists than scoring. Mendoza is the top-scorer of the league. I have four assists to him; it’s part of my role. It gives me a lot of joy to make him the top-scorer. In my opinion, I am playing good or even better than last season.

In the home matches against Kerala Blasters and Delhi Dynamos [against DD he came on in the 56th minute], the team played well without you and, in fact, the winning sequence started then.

Against ATK in Kolkata [on November 18], I had an injury in my ankle. The injury normally takes a week or two [to heal]. In four days I was ready for the game. I knew I was not able to play at my best. Now the players who are going inside the team are doing a good job as well. Bruno [Pelissari], who was my direct substitute despite being young, is doing well. Last season, too, he performed well. I am confident that even if I don’t do well, the others who come, will do well.

Any specific plans for the next two matches?

The strategy is to go very strong-minded, tactically both as a group and individual. We will show our quality. We are definitely going to win.

Chennaiyin has been arguing with umpires and involved in rough tackles. As a result in the ‘fair play’ award section, it stands at the bottom. As a captain does this worry you?

It’s part of the game . Nobody wants to be aggressive or violent towards each other. But sometimes you have hard tackles during a match. In specific situations we tried to control everyone. In games situations, it happens and is difficult to control.