Brisbane Roar striker Besart Berisha believes his team can now be considered one of the best in the Hyundai A-League following their 3-1 win over the Wanderers.
Brisbane Roar striker Besart Berisha believes his team can now be considered one of the best in the Hyundai A-League following their 3-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night.
The charismatic and controversial striker scored the opening goal of the game in the fourth minute and said the result backed up his mid-week claims that Roar were the competition’s top side.
“When you play and when you win against one of the best teams in the league then I think you have to be one of the best in the league,” Berisha said.
“We proved that today. We showed great football, but there’s still some improvement in the game to do.”
He further clarified his comments: “If you want to be the best team in the A-League, you need to win games like that. It’s simple.
“We played today with, I personally think, one of the strongest teams in the A-League.
“Full respect to Wanderers they are doing well, they are a young team in the A-League and they are doing fantastic, but Brisbane showed that the way we play is just very strong and that we can beat every team in the A-League.”
Berisha said he and his team-mates drew motivation from their poor record against Wanderers, with the win the Roar’s first in five attempts against last year’s premiers.
“Last year we lost every game (against them) and we still have this in the mind and it’s why it’s so important this year we want to step up and play better than last year,” he said.
Substituted just after the hour-mark in his first appearance since injuring his hamstring against Sydney FC in the Round 2, Berisha said he was pleased to be back on the pitch.
“There was a little bit of hunger there. You stay five weeks out and I personally cannot handle that,” he said.
“To watch my team (when injured), it’s really frustrating – I nearly done my hammy again jumping (watching the game),” he joked.
“I’m really just glad I made it through. The first game is a very important game for me today, it was very tough.”
He promised there was more to come as he continued to return to full fitness over coming rounds.
“I thought it was a good decision to take me off after 63 minutes,” he said.
“Step by step, I think and I hope against Perth I can do a little bit more, and week to week get stronger and build my performance and fitness back.”
