Mumbai City FC crash out 2-3 on aggregate after goalless draw vs ATK in an ill-tempered semi-final second leg tie at Mumbai Sports Arena
Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai city FC players get into a scuffle after the ISL-3 semi-final second leg match at the Mumbai Sports Arena, Andheri on Tuesday. Mumbai City exited 2-3 on goal aggregate. Pic/suresh Karkera
Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai city FC players get into a scuffle after the ISL-3 semi-final second leg match at the Mumbai Sports Arena, Andheri on Tuesday. Mumbai City exited 2-3 on goal aggregate. Pic/suresh Karkera
A seemingly ugly but brief brawl marred yesterday's Indian Super League-3 semi- final second leg match between Mumbai City FC and Atletico de Kolkata (ATK), as players of both the teams clashed immediately after the referee blew the final whistle after the hosts had crashed out of the tournament on 2-3 aggregate following a goalless draw at the Mumbai Sports Arena in Andheri.
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One of the ATK players was seen headbutting a Mumbai City player's face after which some of the reserve players from both sides engaged in a brief exchange before officials separated them. Eventually ATK's Arnab Mondal ended up with a cut just below his left eye and coach Jose Molina was not a happy man at the post match presser.
Coaches unaware
"I don't know exactly what happened as I did not see it. But after a match players should be shaking hands and not fighting. Such a thing is very sad and should never happen. I don't know Arnab's condition, but I did see some blood on his face. I hope the league officials see TV evidence and then decide on the outcome since it all happened so fast," said Molina.
Mumbai coach Alexandre Guimaraes also said he didn't see the incident. "I don't know what happened as I didn't see the incident." The official word from the ISL organisers is that they are "awaiting a report from the referee and will only then comment on the incident."
Earlier in the match, India football captain Sunil Chhetri, who led Bengaluru FC to a historic Asian Football Confederation final was a pale shadow of his brilliant self as he failed to lead Mumbai City to what would have been a historic first entry into the final.
Having lost 2-3 to the Kolkata side in the first-leg, Mumbai needed two goals to win and one to take the game into extra-time. And Chhetri could have done so single-handedly had he slotted home from a one-on-one situation against Kolkata goalkeeper Debjit Majumdar in as early as the sixth minute of the game.
Mumbai miss Forlan
Without Diego Forlan, Mumbai were already at half strength upfront. And an erring Chhetri – he had a couple of miss-passes and muffed up headers – meant that elusive goal, remained just that in the end, elusive.
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