Bashundhara Kings coach Oscar Bruzon termed the triumph of the hattrick title of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as the 'toughest and sweetest' one compared to their previous two league titles.

"You know, we are facing adversity from the start of the season with injury problems. And we played most of the first-leg matches with only one foreign player. But the determination of our guys was fantastic as we have the best Bangladeshi players and the foreign players increased our squad depth. So, it has been the toughest and sweetest title," Bruzon told the Daily Star after notching up a tough 2-0 win over Saif Sporting Club at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Flight Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj yesterday.

"Apart from my personal satisfaction, all our family members, coaches, our guys and players are here to praise us live. I can tell you today I'm fully satisfied with this achievement."

— Bashundhara Kings coach Oscar Bruzon

Since their emergence in the top-flight football in 2018-19 season, under the guidance of the Spaniard, Kings won six titles – three BPLs, two Federation Cups and one Independence Cup – out of eight competitions in the last four seasons, in which one season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The beginning of the season saw Kings remain content with a runners-up trophy after losing to Abahani before skipping Federation Cup, citing the unfit pitch at the Birshreshstha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium.

Once BPL kick-started after Federation Cup's completion, Kings started their campaign on the wrong foot with a defeat against newcomers Swadhinata KS. Moreover, the injury-suspension of some key players – Tapu Barman, Brazilian Fernandes and Serbian forward Stojan Vranjes – widened their problem but Bruzon's charges eventually sealed the league successfully with two matches in hand.

"There are two lines to the secret to success. One way is suffering. I think we have resilience, resistance, adversity-facing ability and that is what happened this year.

"There were problems with injury, pitch, calendar and controversy over refereeing but that made us stronger," Bruzon continued.

"The other way is the players really worked hard every day and every player knew their responsibility. We have 12 national players who are at the same level and they compete with each other every day in the training session and that is another way to do better and better in every season."

The successful Spanish coach was also delighted to have added another feather to his successful career.

"Apart from my personal satisfaction, all our family members, coaches, our guys and players are here to praise us live. I can tell you today I'm fully satisfied with this achievement."

Soon after the final whistle, Kings' supporters rushed to the center of the pitch to join in the celebration with the Kings players, who were seen to have selfies with their fans. It was literally tough for the media to separate the Kings players from their fans, who backed their beloved team throughout the away match in Munshiganj.

Defender Bishwanath Ghosh highly praised his teammates, who showed sheer determination since the league began.

"We did not think we can finish in this fashion because some key players were sidelined due to injuries but the rest of the players were confident to show their ability despite the absence of key players," said Bishwanath adding they were also determined to wrap up the league title by winning the match against Saif SC. 

Throughout the league campaign, goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico continuously displayed stellar performances and carried his form against Saif.

"I have been with Kings since 2018 and this journey has been really challenging. Now I feel really proud to be a member of Kings. We are getting success in the domestic circuit regularly and we have to get success at international level," said Zico.