Mahendra Singh Dhoni's partner in the Chennai franchise has claimed that kinship is a cornerstone that will never be replaced in his squad, backs team for success after opening ...

Abhishek Bachchan, the co-owner of Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Chennaiyin FC, has spilled the beans on how player recruitment strategy for his team was turned on his head, with players from rival ISL teams jostling for a berth in Marco Materazzi's squad, after they won the 2015 edition of the tournament.

Besides aggressively claiming that Chennaiyin ideal family to him and his partners in management of the franchise, the Bollywood actor believes no stone will be unturned in guaranteeing the atmosphere lasts.

“Honestly, it was a cakewalk. Not only Chennaiyin players, but players from other clubs asked us if they could come to Chennaiyin," began the Dhoom star, at a press meet in the Detroit of Asia, Chennai. He was answering a question on how his team picked out players to feature in the tournament in the Blue shirt of the champions.

"The proudest thing for any club owner is that the players want to stay with you. Some of them, whose contracts were up and came for renegotiations, hardly took time. All they said was ‘it is our home, we’re coming back’. As for the players from the other clubs, it would be unfair of me to name them, but they came to us and said that they wanted to play for us. Speaks a lot about where we have come," he further added, on players from all over India wanting to join his ISL team.

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Elucidating on then necessity of maintaining an ideal balance of competitiveness and familien-bonhomie in the squad, the actor commented,"A lot of times, the ownership comes into the front, but here Marco is the leader and has picked the players and made them into a family. Vita (Dani) and I both strongly believe that it is in our Chennaiyin DNA to always be a family. No matter if we win or lose. We remain together. I think the other people noticed that. Other clubs, players from other clubs noticed that. That’s the way it can go ahead. We’re here to win. And we will be ruthless and shrewd about winning.

"That is our first priority. But we also want to make it a family concern and want it to have a family touch. I don’t think we’ll ever do anything to compromise on that. So you will see that we managed to retain most of our starting eleven, the core. Unfortunately we were unable to re-sign Elano, Bruno (Pelissari) and (Stiven) Mendoza.”

Staying on the topic of Mendoza, Bachchan was quizzed on if he has met the star of his team's last two ISL campaigns, now plying his trade for New York City FC in Major League Soccer (MLS).

“I was with Mendoza a couple of weeks ago in New York and he invited me to one of his matches. He scored a goal, he did a heart-shaped gesture to his wife, and then looked at me, waved at me and said that the next one is for Chennai. The owner of New York City FC was sitting next to me and looked at me and said ‘That’s what Chennaiyin is all about’. It meant so much to me,” he replied.

John-Arne Riise, the former Liverpool and AS Roma left-back - also Delhi Dynamos' marquee in the second season of the ISL- had been signed on as the Super Machchans' campaign this time around, after Elano chose not to renew his ties in India. Expressing his thoughts on the signing, the Norwegian player was praised for his character and ability to improve throughout the season by Bachchan.

“We’re better as a team, playing cohesively. On a lighter note, how I wish we had goal-line technology! (John Arne) Riise would have had a goal in his first game if that were the case. What an absolute champion he is. Great guy to have in the locker room. He’s an absolute character and gets the team together. He showed great leadership qualities. To have him and Mendy at the heart of your defense is a huge plus. First match, they played really well, played cohesively. Although you have had an extensive pre-season, it takes time for the teams to start playing well in these kind of big games and I think we played well,” explained Bachchan.

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Finally, opining that the match against Atletico de Kolkata, the opening game of this time's ISL camapign for Materazzi's men which ended in a draw at the Rabindra Sarobar stadium in the eastern metropolis, was a chance to bring home three points missed, the thespian concluded, “We played really well. Dudu (Omagbemi) had a good chance he should have put away. Sameehg Doutie ran riot and had an excellent game. He is one of the best wingers in the league. But the happiest point in the game for me, which I even told Marco (Materazzi) about was bringing Jerry (Lalrinzuala) onto the pitch. Nobody really picked it up that Jerry became the youngest ever player in the ISL to make his debut. He came on at the age of 18.”