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EXCLUSIVE: Secret behind Alaeddine Ajaraie’s success

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Sourav Mukherjee: Northeast United FC striker Aladdin Ajaraie already scored 11 goals and 4 assists in his 10 ISL matches. Aladdin Azarei is the only man whom North East United FC is dreaming of turning around. Northeast star Aladdin in give an exclusive interview with Ray Sportz ahead of the upcoming tough clash at home against Mohun Bagan SuperGiants.

Q: North East United FC is going to take on the table topper Mohunbagan. How much confidence to beat them in your home ground?
Aladdin: Mohun Bagan are a good team with a good coach and good players. But yes, we are playing at home and we love playing in front of our home fans. We are confident if we play our best football, we can get three points.

Q: Previously you have met Mohun Bagan two times & you scored in both matches. Do you feel more hungry when you face this team?*
Aladdin: For me, it’s about helping the team. If my goal/goals can help the team win, I am happy. I am equally hungry against every opposition.

Q: Last match you have lost against East Bengal. What went wrong & what you have learnt from that match?*
Aladdin: Like the coach said, we need to be more calm and we have to play our game and against Mohun Bagan, we will try and do the same.

Q: How are you enjoying the Journey with North East United FC?*
Aladdin: The journey with NorthEast United FC has been incredible so far. Winning the Durand Cup was a special moment which I will forever cherish. At the same time, people at the club – my teammates, coaches, all the staff, and the management – have all been incredible, working to improve every day. So, I am very happy.

Q: Which two or three teams do you think are mostly strong contenders of this ISL?*
Aladdin: ISL is a very competitive league and that’s why I wanted to join it. Every team is a strong team and anyone can beat anyone.

Q: We saw your celebration is like the popular character Luffy of the Japanese anime One Piece. What is the secret behind this?*
Aladdin: I don’t watch anime too much but I love this particular one. I liked the character of Luffy and that’s how I thought of doing this celebration. I started it only this season because that is how I want people to remember me and when I see our Young Highlanders celebrate like me, it gives me happiness.

Q: Now you have scored 11 goals from 10 matches. Are you looking for the highest goal scorer this season?*
Aladdin: I am happy that I have so far managed to help the team with 11 goals. It’s a long season and it’s too soon to talk about the golden boot. I am fully focused on my job of helping the team and without their help, I wouldn’t be able to score so many goals.

Q: What is your take on ISL & Indian football?*
Aladdin: The level of competition is very high in ISL with many quality players. When I compare it with Qatar, I feel that the ISL is better for me as a player because of the high volume of top players and that makes it a tough league.

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ISL 2024/25: Jamshedpur FC snatch a tricky win in 1st leg semifinal

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Sourav Mukherjee, Jamshedpur: Khalid Jamil’s Jamshedpur FC lit up JRD Tata Sports Complex on thursday evening with a late winner in a 2-1 win over mighty Mohunbagan. JFC took the lead in the 24th minute of the match by Javier Siverio’s goal. Somehow, Mohunbagan has managed to get the equaliser in the first half, by a stunning goal from Jason Cummings.

Jamil and his men came out on the top against the shield champion Mohunbagan. In the second half Jose Molina tried to take out the match from the Red Miners. But in the 91st minute Javi Hernandez scored the late winner for Jamshedpur FC.

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PSG eliminates Liverpool on penalties

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Ray Sportz Web Desk: Paris Saint-Germain produced a historic turnaround to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals at Liverpool’s expense as they triumphed 4-1 on penalties after a 1-0 second leg win at Anfield.

Never in Liverpool’s history had they lost a European tie after winning the first leg away from home but Ousmane Dembele’s early strike brought the French champions level at 1-1 on aggregate. PSG were then perfect with their four spot-kicks, while Gianluigi Donnarumma saved from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones.

Barcelona cruised past Benfica with Raphinha scoring twice and Lamine Yamal once in a 3-1 win at home.

The Catalan club advanced 4-1 on aggregate score after last week’s 1-0 victory and will play either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinals.

After a 3-0 first-leg win, Bayern Munich had no trouble advancing past German rival Bayer Leverkusen.

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Maclaren is looking for double

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Ray Sportz Web Desk: 11 goals and two assists in 22 matches in the current ISL. Such statistics are enviable for any footballer. Jamie McLaren is already the owner of 11 goals in the Mohun Bagan jersey after stepping foot in India. The Bagan crowd keeps an eye on this Aussie star in important matches. In an interview given to Ray Sportz before stepping foot in the knockouts, Jamie McLaren talked about his goals.

Q: What about the pressure of expectations? How do you deal with the pressure?

Jemmie: Nothing new from when I was a young kid. You wanted to play in big clubs, big crowds, big leagues and I never felt any sort of pressure. Like I said in previous interviews, the minute I landed, the support I had straight away, I knew that they were going to support me. So when you have the love and the support and the care of good people, you just want to give everything. And I think it was a little sad that I got injured straight away, but I did everything possible, flew to Mumbai, flew to Australia to get myself right, my neck a few procedures and found myself fit. And once I was fit, I was ready to go and just had to earn the trust of the coach. Okay, in this season.

Q: You have scored 11 goals for Mohunbagan, & last year the number was the same. But which one is the best for you?

Jemmie: This season, because obviously more goals, more trophies. So yeah, without a shadow of a doubt, it’s definitely this season. So I want to build on this. I think last year I played 28 games, played with a few injuries, and a couple of broken toes. So this season, other than missing pre-season, I’ve been pretty good with the body and really happy. And we’ve got four games to go in this season in terms of winning another trophy. So the full confidence is there, we’re going to have a little break. And I’m used to these one-off games, I’m used to the semifinals. We have that in Australia with two legs and then you play in a playoff grand final. So I’m really keen to get underway, but there’s obviously a big game in front of our crowd lifting the shield. Okay, you are playing with so many young players here in this team.

Q: What do you think of the young footballers in India? Perhaps, you can play the role of a mentor?

Jemmie: Yeah, really good. When I first signed in the first couple of weeks when I was training, there were a lot more younger faces and yeah, they have to earn the trust of the coach. They have to earn the respect of the players, the older players. But they’re holding their own. And I think the ones that have got their opportunity this year have really taken it. And we’re learning from them, they’re learning off us. Like I said, it’s really a together unit. You don’t win trophies with 11 players, you win with 24, 25 and we’re lucky to have that. I’ve had a few injuries this year and the ones that have stepped in have really held their own. And that just shows that they’re hungry for success as well. But one thing is, every game you can’t take for granted. Every minute you get, don’t take those for granted because the coach has shown that he wants to trust everybody and this season is no different.

Q: You have come to India with lots of expectations in your mind. Do you think it has been fulfilled?

Jemmie: Not yet because I obviously had the mind of winning the Shield and winning the playoff trophy. So to do the double is definitely the highest goal that I set. And unfortunately, circumstances were taken out of our hands with the Asian Champions League. I played in that tournament before, and scored goals in Asian tournaments. But to be taken away this year, we never got a chance to play. So we’ve done that, we’ve qualified for next season. We look forward to showing how powerful we can be in Asia because when I looked at the group and I looked at the games, I really think we could have had an imprint in this year’s Asian Champions League. But it wasn’t my fault for anyone at the club. It was taken out of our hands and we just had to focus on getting the Shield and getting qualified again for Asia. So in my mind, we’re halfway there to what I wanted to do and we’ve still got another trophy at hand. Thank you.

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