Merino praised the performances of new signings Cristhian Mosquera, Noni Madueke, and Ebere Eze, who all made their mark on the game despite the loss.

He said, “We're very disappointed with the result, but we showed a lot of courage and character throughout the game. We knew it would be tough against a good opponent in a challenging stadium.

“However, there were many positives to take away from the game. We saw our new players perform well despite difficult circumstances, and the whole team played with a lot of heart and determination.

“We're looking forward to the rest of the season, and we're proud of how we've started. We'll take the positives from this game and use them to move forward.

“We'll look back on the game and see how dominant we were, despite the loss. We'll use this as motivation to keep improving and pushing ourselves to be the best team we can be.”