'Need to show little more courage in the attack'

New Delhi: Pune City FC's winger Marko Stankovic feels his team need to show more intent in attacking third if they want to beat table-toppers Bengaluru FC in the return-leg of the Indian Super League first semifinal at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

"Conceding no goal was one of our targets in the first leg of the semifinals," said the 32-year-old Serbian footballer after the first leg ended 0-0 in Pune on Wednesday. "But I don't think it's an advantage for us now. It's going to be an advantage if we are able to repeat the same performance from the first leg, adding with a little bit more courage to go in attack. It's still 50-50."

Sunday's rival, Bengaluru has been the best team in ISL this season and are on a 12-match unbeaten streak at the moment (five at home). But Marko doesn't want to read much into stats as he feels football has a small memory of past.

"Each game has to be played and each game starts at 0-0. The football doesn't live in the past or the future; nothing in football is as old as the success from yesterday. So it won't matter tomorrow (on Sunday)," said the Pune's January arrival.

Talking about boisterous Bengaluru fans, known as West Block Blues, he said: I'm looking forward to playing in front of Bengaluru's fans. They are able to make a nice atmosphere, which should help each player on the pitch; not just help them but also us. There is nothing more beautiful in football than playing in full stadium with a nice atmosphere."

Signed by the club in January, this is Marko 's first football season in India. Being on the wrong side of 30, he felt it was the right time to find greener pasture in India.

"At this stage of my career, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to try a new adventure. I played whole my career in Austria and three years in Italy, and now when I'm over 30 it became difficult for me to match the pace of young players in the Austrian league. So moving to a league which is not as demanding as European league speed-wise, is a good move for my career," said the former Austria Wien player.

Sharing his thought about ISL, Mark said it's not at the top level yet but it's heading in the right direction.

"When I look at the tactical aspect and speed of the league, it's not close to the European leagues. But when we see all the foreigners, they are technically strong which notches up the level. Football here is on the right direction; previously it took players such as (Florent) Malouda and (Marko) Materazzi, who were great but lacked the energy to take the football forward, but now the clubs are buying foreign players at a younger age," he explained.