Kolkata: So how do you go about stopping Mohun Bagan SG? A simple question it may seem but different teams have come into the Salt Lake Stadium and left without finding an answer. Oscar Bruzon's East Bengal FC included. No doubt, home fires have been burning brightly for Bagan for long, casting a warm glow on a cherished piece of statistics highlighting that they've not experienced defeat at this venue for 18 straight games. Jose Molina's ISL champions — whose last setback came in the form of a loss to NorthEast United FC through a penalty shootout in the last edition of Durand Cup — have bestridden the country's most icionic football stadium like a colossus during this period. After all the neceties of starting the season with three straight victories and entering the quarterfinals with potency and promise, Bruzon now faces the serious business of bearding the lion in its den as the two teams meet again on Sunday with a Durand Cup semifinal berth at stake. Back in October, hours after landing in the city, Bruzon saw Bagan do what they have been doing for long — sealing the derby deal with a comfortable 2-0 win. Now Bruzon would like to see the world through different eyes. That time, he believes, his team looked vulnerable and naïve, besieged by a plethora of problems. Now they are a team with more street wisdom, resilience and conviction. "If you analyse our last year, I came here with an idea of being a dominant unit, to play with a 4-3-3, to play most of the time in the opponent's half. That is the football I like," Bruzon told TOI on Saturday. "But with the problems we had last year, in terms of injuries, cards, fitness and confidence, that took me to understand that we could not be that dominating force on the pitch and mostly forced me to play more reactive football. We were not happy with what had happened last year. So, yeah, our idea this year is be more dominant, be more close to the best clubs in India. And tomorrow is a good opportunity for us to show this," he added. Molina, clearly loving his familiar and august surrounds, has remained guarded with his strategy, revealing that Manvir Singh and Kiyan Nassiri won't be fit for the match while inspirational full-back Subhashis Bose continues with his rehabilitation from injury. "I understand that this is Durand Cup, an official tournament and we all want to win it. But this is a pre-season match. And we are not going to see the best of Mohun Bagan. I am sure we are not going to see the best of East Bengal as well at the moment. We will try our best, of course, but our real best is not possible right now because we are in a pre-season," the Bagan coach noted. Bagan's march under Molina towards the ISL ‘double' in the previous season had established a template on one occasion too many — if they struggled to pick the opposition's lock, no worries, either Jamie Maclaren, Dimnitri Petratos or Jason Cummings had just come off the bench and broken the door down. Bruzon has to set the right trap to contain them, individually and collectively. East Bengal will miss the services of Palestinian midfielder Mohammed Rashid who has gone back home for some unavoidable reasons. But in Hamid Ahadad, they have someone who's ready to provide the class and impetus the team has perhaps been missing for some time. Another newcomer Miguel Fereira may not have scored but he has become an exclamation point in the team's attacking aspirations. Asked about Bagan's invincibility at the stadium and the challenge of overcoming them, East Bengal midfielder Souvik Chakrabarti described it as "an extra motivating factor" to buck the trend. Cummings, on the other hand, set the tempo for his team. "I feel the bigger the game for us, the better we play. More pressure, you know, the better we are," said the Australian forward, now playing in a No. 10 role. With no clarity yet on the fate of the ISL, nobody knows what this season will hold for the Big 2 and others. But with another sold-out Salt Lake Stadium preparing to play out the biggest game in the country's club football, such apprehension can take a backseat, at least for a day.