New Delhi: FC Pune City's marquee player and France's World Cup winner David Trezeguet on Monday said the experience of playing alongside overseas stars in the Indian Super League will help the local players in making the cut in the overseas leagues.
Talking about his team-mates on the eve of his side's match against Delhi Dynamos, the 36-year-old Frenchman said, "They are good. Hopefully, their experience of playing with top players will open a new way of getting entry into other top leagues abroad."
He said he was happy to be a part of ISL.
"I am happy to be part of this new concept in Indian football. Players like Alessandro del Piero and Nicolas Anelka are playing here, and it raise the profile of the game. I am glad to be witnessing the emergence of a new football tournament."
It will be a reunion of sorts for Italian legend Alessandro Del Piero and Trezeguet as the two had spent some great years in Juventus.
Both were part of the Juventus team when the Serie A giants were relegated to second division following the 2006 match-fixing scandal that rocked Italian football. They were also the ones singing the redemption song when the club, also called the Old Lady of Turin, returned to top-flight football and dominated the league.
"This will be the first time that I will be playing against Alessandro and it's definitely a new experience for me."
Pune coach Franco Colomba said there were two-three injury worries in his team.
"Three players - Joaquim Abranches, Pratik Shinde and David Colomba are injured. But we have a squad of 26 players, so that would not be a problem," Colomba said.
On their first match, he said, "Winning the first match is always important. It will bolster the mental strength of the players. We had a week-long training camp at Fiorentina and the experience was good. Hope it helps us against the Delhi Dynamos."
Trezeguet said he was happy to have seen Taj Mahal.
Indian football star Mehrajuddin Wadoo said it's been a great experience training alongside players like Trezeguet.
"David has been very helpful on and off the field and we are 100 percent ready. Communication was a problem initially but things are fine now. We had a good training stint in Florence and the bonding is great now. We are gelling as a team."
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