"I asked them to win it for Amey"
Mumbai City FC won their first crown in the Indian Super League. Defeating ATK Mohun Bagan 2-1, Sergio Lobera’s side clinched their victory in the 2020-21 season’s final.
The game of two halves had its moments and the winning goal for Mumbai City FC was smashed into the net by Bipin Singh further to some brilliant work by Bartholomew Ogbeche and a mishap by ATK Mohun Bagan’s defence.
The exciting final was played at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa with both teams eager to win the league’s title.
The first half was not going Mumbai’s way as per their plans but after a half time pep talk by their manager Sergio Lobera the team came out to win even after losing one of his top players, Amey Ranawade, to a head injury.
After Amey was taken off the team lost focus was affected. Commenting on it, Sergio said:
“The focus was on Amey. “It was difficult to get the boys to concentrate on the game from there on. I asked them to win it for Amey. He’s a strong lad and we hope he can join us soon.”
Mumbai City FC is the second team to win the title in Indian Super League history after being in pole position during the league phase.
ATK Mohun Bagan started well in the first half. At 18 minutes into the game, David Williams gave them a lead at 1-0.
Assisted by Roy Krishna, Williams combined to beat Amrinder Singh who was poor to stop the Mumbai City FC goal.
However, this did not last due to mistakes in their defence and goalkeeping which did not help them at all.
As the match progressed, 29 minutes in, failing to read the flight of the ball, Tiri headed the ball beyond his own goalkeeper leading to an own goal.
This gifted goal allowed Mumbai FC City to be level at 1-1.
After some misses on both sides, the game then took an ugly turn. Amey Ranawade’s injury showed he was down with some serious pain. With medical staff attending an ambulance was called to take him to hospital.
Mohamad Rakip came on for Mumbai City FC as a substitute to replace Amey Ranawade.
With the second half starting and both sides level the game built up in momentum.
A free-kick by ATK Mohun Bagan’s Javier Hernandez was deflected into the Mumbai City FC’s net. But the goal was disallowed due to Roy Krishna being in an offside position.
After another miss by Javier Hernandez hitting the crossbar, things got worse for ATK Mohun Bagan in the 90th minute.
A goalkeeping error by Arindam Bhattacharya allowed Mumbai City FC’s Bipin Singh to act quickly and hit the ball into the bottom right corner of ATK Mohun Bagan’s net.
Bartholomew Ogbeche beat Arindam Bhattacharya after he tried to chest the ball down and squared the ball to Singh which led to Mumbai City FC winning the title.
Scored the most important goal of the season & led his team to the #HeroISL ?
Watch Bipin Singh's Hero of the Match performance from the #HeroISLFinal here ?#MCFCATKMB #LetsFootball pic.twitter.com/KEDjwHCl7d
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) March 13, 2021
After the game, all the players were ecstatic about their win.
Goalkeeper Amrinder, the captain of Mumbai City FC said:
“Amazing feeling. I feel that everyone is proud and everyone is happy.”
“We finished at the top and after this the team had to keep their momentum at the same level.”
He added:
“They tried to play and control the game. I think I’m really really proud of my boys.”
Bipin Singh was declared ‘HERO’ of the match for his winning goal.
News from the hospital regarding Amey Ranawade’s injury revealed that he was in a stable condition and was still under observation.
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