Mumbai City FC handed Chennaiyin FC a 6-2 defeat in a Hero Indian Super League 2022-23 fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
Jorge Diaz (33rd), Greg Stewart (45th), Vinit Rai (49th), Vignesh Dakshinamurthy (60th), Alberto Noguera (65th) and Bipin Singh (90th) contributed to Mumbai City’s win with a goal apiece while Chennaiyin’s two goals came from Petar Sliskovic (19th) and Abdenasser El Khayati (32nd).
Chennaiyin started off well and pressed the opposition backline consistently. Their efforts paid off well as Sliskovic opened the account for the hosts in the 19th minute with a good header. It was Aakash Sangwan once again who created the opportunity with a brilliant corner. The ball fell to Rahim Ali after a deflection who sent in a good ball to the Croatian striker, who did enough to head it home from a close range. It also marked Sliskovic’s maiden goal in the ISL.
Making his only second ISL appearance, El Khayati doubled the lead 13 minutes later. Sliskovic set up a beautiful pass from outside the box for El Khayati, who ended up finding the back of the net with a clever shot despite being surrounded by opponents.
However, celebrations lasted hardly a minute for Chennaiyin as Diaz smashed Mumbai City’s first goal. And it wasn't long before Mumbai equalized off a penalty which they received after Chennaiyin goalkeeper Debjit Majumder was handed a yellow card for his attempt of clearing the ball away from the opposition player inside the box.
With three goals fired in a span of just 13 minutes, Marina Arena witnessed an action-packed first half.
Mumbai City began aggressively after the break and took only three minutes to take the lead. It was Vinit Rai who converted a Bipin Singh pass successfully to put Islanders in the driver’s seat.
The Islanders added two more goals to take the game virtually out of Chennaiyin’s reach. It was Vignesh, who struck the fourth goal in the 60th minute before Alberto Noguera made it 5-2 five minutes later.
Just when it looked the game was over with a scoreline of 5-2, Bipin Singh added a sixth goal in stoppage time.
Chennaiyin will now host Jamshedpur FC in their fourth home game of the season on November 19 while Mumbai City will face Bengaluru FC in Mumbai on Thursday.
Artsmith Media Release