Gurpreet eyeing maiden success in top flight

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Press Trust of India Bengaluru
Last Updated : Mar 14 2018 | 5:35 PM IST

India's numero uno goalkeeer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is eyeing a maiden success in top-flight football, as his team Bengaluru FC gears up to take on Chennaiyin FC in the final of Indian Super League.

"I haven't won it yet so I don't know about the feeling. If we win, it will be a great feeling to have achieved something that I have not before. We take one game at a time and that is what the aim is right now," he said.

Gurpreet has never won a league title and the closest he came was with East Bengal when they finished runners-up twice in the I-League.

Gurpreet's presence in the side has only strengthened Bengaluru's defence as could be reflected in the home side conceding a mere 17 goals in 20 games.

Gurpreet has seven clean sheets out of the 18 matches he has played in ISL, with the standout performance coming in Bhubaneswar where he single-handedly kept Jamshedpur FC's attacks at bay.

He will look for more of the same against Chennaiyin in the final on Saturday.

Gurpreet has never played 18 games in a top division league in his career and the manner in which he has performed in ISL only goes to show just how much he has improved since leaving the country for Norway.

His performance has been critical to Bengaluru's hopes of winning the ISL title on debut.

He is in terrific form and showed super reflexes to deny FC Pune City an early away goal in the crucial second leg semi-final and it is no surprise that he leads the race for the Golden Glove award.

Gurpreet's stint at Stabaek FC in Norway has helped. He played regularly in the reserve league every weekend and the game-time has certainly gone a long way in making him a supremely confident goalkeeper.

In India, he has been streets ahead of his competitors even in a league where goalkeepers have caught the eye.

Subrata Paul (Jamshedpur FC), Karanjit Singh (Chennaiyin FC) and Amrinder Singh (Mumbai City FC) have all given a good account of themselves but nobody has been as impressive as Gurpreet.

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First Published: Mar 14 2018 | 5:35 PM IST

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