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I can play and give 100 per cent to the team: Garcia

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Press Trust of India Kolkata
Atletico de Kolkata marquee midfielder Luis Garcia today said that he is ready to fire as the team is "anxious" to get three points against Mumbai in order to make the ISL semi-finals cut.

"Not desperate, but yes we are anxious to get the points and get through. Our target from the beginning of the season was to make the semis cut, we have been close in last few games.

"I can play and give my 100 per cent to the team. It does not matter who is in the XI, we have to push for a win," Garcia said on the eve of their departure for Mumbai for their penultimate round clash on Sunday.
 

ATK manager Antonio Habas had ignored the former Liverpool star in their goalless draw in Delhi adding fuel to the speculation of a rift with the Champions League winner.

Rubbishing the reports of a rift, Garcia said: "There has not been any. Such types of talks keep happening when we don't do well on the pitch..."

The ATK skipper had been the centre of their raids in their 3-0 rout of Mumbai in the ISL kickoff nite but the Spanish player said they would have to be watchful against laggards Mumbai City FC.

"They have nothing to lose so they can be very dangerous. None of the games has been easy. All the pressure is now on the pitch and this is the kind of games we like to play. We know that winning the game will take us to the next round. Everybody will love to be on the pitch on Sunday, we are looking forward to logging three points.

"It all depends on us. We don't have to look forward to other teams to lose or draw... It's in our hands. If we win we are through, we are not looking at anything else. Right now the team is just focussed on winning the game," he said.

ATK have posted just one win in eight outings to slide to third place in the table but Garcia attributed it to the intense competition in the inaugural franchise league.

"At the beginning, most of the teams did not know each other. Probably we surprised the other teams with our standard of play. Now the teams know the style of football we play. We were the team to beat having been top of the table for first 10 consecutive games," he said.

Garcia also pointed out a few dubious refereeing decisions that had contributed to the slump. "We have not been lucky in a few games because of some circumstances we did not get the points we deserved.

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First Published: Dec 05 2014 | 9:15 PM IST

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