Forward Valentín Castellanos scored a hat trick and added a first-half assist to lead New York City FC to a 5-2 win over the New York Red Bulls at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night. After the team's third straight victory, head coach Ronny Deila, Castellanos and forward Gary Mackay-Steven discussed the squad's growing momentum.
New York City FC Head Coach Ronny Deila:
On the second half performance...
"We played two good halves today, we didn’t start slow, but they are aggressive and hard to play against, especially in the beginning of games. We get 1-0, they come back in 2-1, they had very strange goals. We just kept doing the same good things and we deserved to get the equalizer before the break. Then we just needed to do the same things we did in the first half, because we were a better team. We felt it in the last 20 minutes of the first half, then in the second half we defended good. At the same time, we scored some beautiful goals. Like I said before, this gives us more confidence, gives us belief that when we do the job and follow up the plan, then we have some really good football players out there. We showed that today. We are hard to beat and we got three points."
New York City FC Forward Valentín Castellanos:
On his hat trick...
“Coming into the game I know I was playing well and I was helping the team, but the goals weren’t coming for me. They finally did today. This was my first hat trick and to be able to help the team was the most important thing. With this being a rivalry game we had to step it up and play well and I’m just really happy.”
New York City FC Forward Gary Mackay-Steven:
On how much NYCFC dominated from being down 2-1...
"We had a game plan. We stuck to it. We knew it was going to be fast paced from the start. There were goals. We went ahead then they got straight back into it and they went ahead. We just need to focus on our game plan, our strengths, and what we would like to do. It was a good performance in the end and we took a lot of our chances."
