Although Barreto has clearly emerged as the most crucial player in Mohun Bagan’s successful run this season, he doesn’t even want to admit that his combination with Baichung Bhutia has been a key factor in pulling the team out of the rut after a disappointing start.

Instead, when asked to look back at the season and the successes so far, the mercurial Barreto is these days praising another Brazilian — Marcos Pereira. “September 20 was the most important day for all of us in the team,” Barreto recounts. “We had a dream run this season, getting close to the I-League title contention, reaching the second spot, just behind Sporting Clube de Goa who are on 24 points. Now, that dream run actually began after September 20 when Marcos Pereira joined the Mohun Bagan camp.”

Barreto reckons that the hardworking Marcos and his ability to consistently feed the strikers has been the turning point in Bagan’s campaign. “He was relentless, has been very hardworking, and most importantly, his ability to feed the attackers with accurate throughs in turn brought out the best in us. The most important thing is, Marcos has also successfully played the role of defensive screen whenever the opposition went into counter-attack mode,” Barreto explained.

The experienced Brazilian player picked out three players who he thinks made much of the difference in terms of freely moving on the field — Bhutia, Lal Kamal Bhowmick and himself. He explained: “Baichung has been scoring fantastic goals lately and in fact that’s not something that is unexpected. As for me, I am satisfied for having been able to move freely in the attacking-third. And then there is Lal Kamal, who has been quite articulate in feeding upfront with accurate passes. He has also shown that he can play in crunch situations without taking too much pressure on himself. So, if we really manage to win the I-League title, then Marcos’ name should be on top of the list.”

Terming every match of the second leg of the I-League as extremely important, Barreto picked out the encounters against East Bengal and Sporting Clube de Goa as the most crucial ones. Mohun Bagan will play Sporting Clube de Goa on February 7 and the much-awaited Kolkata Maidan derby is on February 22. “All the matches from now on are important. But specially important will be our matches against Sporting Clube de Goa and East Bengal. They are the two most important hurdles we have to overcome,” he said.

Barreto raised a question mark on the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) apparent lack of activity in arranging overseas opportunities for talented Indian players. His observation came in the backdrop of Sunil Chhetri’s trials at English club Coventry City.