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Mumbai City beat Chennaiyin FC 2-1 in the 22nd game of the 2020-21 Indian Super League Season. Chennaiyin FC seemed the better side, but they received some poor decisions from referee Ajit Kumar Meitei.
Like the last few matches, the game got off to a lively start with Chennaiyin FC causing Mumbai City FC a lot of trouble. Following an early corner-kick for Chennaiyin FC, Enes Sipovic came up with a neat flick-on for Jakub Sylvestr. But the format couldn’t kick the ball into the net from point-blank range. Though the assistant referee raised his flag to signal an off-side, the opportunity would still go down as a miss.
One minute later, Sylvestr set Lallianzuala Chhangte free for a counter-attacking opportunity. But the winger dragged his shot poorly. This infuriated the team’s skipper Rafael Crivellaro. At the other end, Hugo Boumous glided through before coming up with a pass to Raynier Fernandes. But Enes Sipovic blocked it a timely tackle.
This was one of the few opportunities for Mumbai in the first half as Chennaiyin kept them on their toes. Mumbai City FC could only reply to this with niggly fouls. Ahmed Jahouh and Mourtada Fall were lucky to escape bookings.
Even after Enes Sipovic was taken off in the 19th minute, Chennaiyin FC remained on the front-foot. But they missed the crucial final pass. Then against the run of play, Hugo Boumous's fantastic counter-attacking run almost put Mumbai in the lead . Boumous set up Adam Le Fondre but the English forward delayed his shot and this helped Vishal Kaith to save the eventual strike.
After the cooling break around the 30-minute mark, Chennaiyin started positively again. The team took many shots after Lallianzuala Chhangte's initial run. But Mumbai City FC's defense stood tall. Jahouh also came with a cracking challenge to avert the danger.
Yet, Chennaiyin opened the scoring in the 40th minute following a another sensational run from Lallianzuala Chhangte. The rapid winger came to his best form after being shifted to the right flank as he blitzed past Hernan Santana before squaring the ball to Jakub Sylvestr for a simple tap-in.
Chennaiyin could've made it 2-0 as the duo of Crivellaro and Fatkhullo Fatkhulloev came up with shots but Mumbai defended stoutly. It looked like Chennaiyin will go into half-time with a 1-0 lead. But Mumbai City had other plans. They equalized following an error from Vishal Kaith as Hernan Santana headed it in quite easily.
Poor Refeering in the Second Half
In the second half, Chennaiyin made a bright start. But some poor decisions from Chhangte meant the opportunity from a counter-attack fizzled away. The game became scrappy after that as the players became tired. However, there were still moments of magic like the one created by Adam Le Fondre and Ahmed Jahouh. It was only the over-powered through ball to CY Goddard that didn’t see Mumbai take the lead.
A few minutes later, Chennaiyin FC were at the end of poor refereeing as they were denied a penalty for Jahouh bringing down Fatkhullo Fatkhulloev.
Five minutes later, Mumbai City rubbed salt into Chennaiyin’s wounds as Adam Le Fondre scored off a set-piece. Ahmed Jahouh came up with the initial long-kick to Rowllin Borges after which Hugo Boumous headed it into Adam Le Fondre’s path. Le Fondre was never going to miss such an opportunity as he flicked the ball past Vishal Kaith.
In the 83rd minute, Chennaiyin could have had a way back into the game but Jakub Sylvestr’s poor control let him down after Rafael Crivellaro found him with a chipped pass. They were then dealt a huge blow as Esmael Goncalves went off after picking up an injury. As the manager Csaba Laszlo had already made all the five substitutions, Chennaiyin had to carry on with just 10-men for the final few minutes. In the first minute of stoppage time, Bipin Singh could have closed out the game but he connected his shot pretty poorly.
At the other end, Chennaiyin FC got into a chaotic mess as they flung a number of shots at Mumbai’ s defense. However, Mourtada Fall saved Mumbai with a crucial block after Jakub Sylvestr released a shot even as Chennaiyin FC argued that Fall had handled the ball. With the very last play of the game, Sylvestr could have rescued a point but he headed the ball high following a Crivellaro corner-kick.
ISL 2020-21, MCFC vs CFC: Who was the Hero of the Match?
Mourtada Fall had to be the ‘Hero of the Match’ as he was a rock at the back for Mumbai City. Chennaiyin FC created numerous chances but Fall was there to come up with a clutch interception or tackle. The Sengalese defender became crucial especially after Hernan Santana had to be substituted off due to an injury. Fall’s performance was encapsulated by a crucial block in stoppage time when Jakub Sylvestr came up with a shot after a chaotic phase of play.
