Mumbai City FC have boasted of some great strikers in the past who had taken the Indian Super League by storm when they sported the club’s colours on the field. Diego Forlan, Nicolas Anelka and Sunil Chhetri are the biggest names on the list. Thus, there’s little doubt that over the years, the club have rarely failed to live up to the big names.
Mumbai City have recorded some of the most memorable victories in ISL and here we take a look at the biggest of them.
Mumbai City FC 5-0 Pune City FC | ISL 2014
In the inaugural season, Mumbai City did not have the best of times, finishing seventh. However, the season saw some high points, one of them being a 5-0 rout of the now-defunct Pune City FC. The ‘Maharashtra derby’ saw Mumbai dominating the match. They scored as early as the 12th minute through Andre Moritz. The Brazilian went on to score two more during the course of the game to record a hat-trick - a first for the club. Subhash Singh and Johan Letzelter scored the other goals and a late substitute appearance from Freddie Ljungberg made the victory even sweeter.
Credits: AFP/Punit ParanjpeMumbai City FC 5-1 NorthEast United FC | ISL 2015
Mumbai’s next big victory also saw a hat-trick, this time by India’s ‘Captain, Leader, Legend’, Chhetri. The game was relatively quiet in the first quarter before it suddenly sprung to life in the 25th minute. Mumbai were given a penalty and Chhetri duly put it away. However, NorthEast got back five minutes later, equalizing through Boithang Haokip. Chhetri again scored in the 41st minute, ensuring Mumbai went into half-time with a 2-1 lead. The second half was one-way traffic with Chhetri scoring another penalty to seal his treble, with Sony Norde and Frantz Bertin scoring two more across the half to give Mumbai a comfortable victory.
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Mumbai City FC 5-0 Kerala Blasters FC | ISL 2016
A third five-goal glut from Mumbai City FC a year later, and the game predictably saw another hat-trick, this time by Forlan. It was made even more special by the fact that it came against the season’s finalists, Kerala Blasters FC. Mumbai were in prime form that season and they stamped their authority in this game. The Uruguayan legend scored as early as the fifth minute, adding another in the 14th to deflate Kerala. He was not done though as he came back to score a third in the second-half, with Brito Alves and Lucian Goian adding the other two in a humiliating defeat for the team from the south.
Mumbai City FC 4-0 Delhi Dynamos FC | ISL 2017-18
This was Mumbai’s first big victory which did not see an individual hat-trick, as the whole team worked collectively to ensure a sound result. Mumbai City FC started out well, with Lucian Goian scoring in the 12th minute and Everton Santos adding a second just before half-time. Right on the cusp of 45 minutes, a heated fracas saw both teams reduced to 10 men. Sehnaj Singh was sent off from Mumbai’s end while Matias Mirabaje saw red from the opposing team. But it was Mumbai City who reacted better of the two. Four minutes into the second half, Thiago Santos scored a third for Mumbai, essentially killing off the game before Balwant Singh scored a fourth late in the game to rub salt into Delhi’s wounds.
Mumbai City FC 6-1 Kerala Blasters FC | ISL 2018-19
Mumbai delivered their most brutal performance last season. And if you are wondering, it did see a hat-trick by yet another accomplished striker - Modou Sougou. The Senegalese opened the scoring for Mumbai City in the 12th minute, and doubled his and the club’s tally three minutes later. Indian midfield ace Seiminlen Doungel gave Kerala some hope when he pulled one back just before the half-hour mark. However, Sougou sealed his hat-trick in the 30th minute to give Mumbai a two-goal cushion once again. Kerala faced further agony when Zakeer Mundampara was sent off at half-time. Rafael Bastos put in a fourth late in the second-half and two final-minute goals by Mathias Mirabaje and Sougou again capped off a terrible night for Kerala Blasters.
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Featured image courtesy: AFP/ Dibyangshu Sarkar
