I-League: This fixture deserves a good referee – Mohun Bagan captain Odafa Okolie

Sunday’s derby against East Bengal is set to be Mohun Bagan skipper Odafa Okolie’s first start in the I-League this season as injury had kept him out earlier in the campaign.

Although small sections of the Mohun Bagan fanbase have questioned Odafa’s commitment at times, he has largely received a lot of support from the fans and thus is determined to repay their faith with a good performance in the derby.

“All the fans have been waiting for this match and so have I. This game is always very special so I can’t wait for Sunday. All the supporters have backed me so I would like to thank them and hopefully can make them happy after this match” the Nigerian stated in the joint pre-match press conference at the Mohun Bagan ground on Friday.

Last year Odafa’s red card against East Bengal in the infamous December 9th derby sparked the ugly scenes in the stands which eventually resulted in Syed Rahim Nabi getting injured. The forward was highly criticial of referee Vishnu Chauhan who sent him off in that encounter and is hoping the match officials does a better job this time.

“This fixture deserves a good referee. Whether we win or lose doesn’t matter as long as the referee is good because we then go home without any regrets. In the last derby East Bengal beat us fair and square so we didn’t have any complaints and hopefully everything will be fair in this clash,” he opined.

Sunday’s derby clash will also see Odafa, Kenyan Eric Muranda and Japanese Katsumi Yusa play for the first time together and the Mohun Bagan captain is relishing that prospect.

“We haven’t had any matches together but we have been training hard so I am confident we will combine quite well,” he concluded.