Chennaiyin FC got their first points of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 after cruising to a 3-0 victory over NorthEast United FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday. Scoring in his first appearance for Chennai was forward Mohammed Rafi, whose goal took the southerners to the top of the table momentarily on goal-difference. Rafi shared his thoughts on the game and his goal with indiansuperleague.com after the match. Here are the excerpts.

Rafi, good to make a scoring start. It was your day all the way.

I am happy that I scored today, and we got the win. The team gave a hundred percent, that’s why the result is 3-0.

A very instinctive goal as you saw the ball come up. Tell us more about the goal.

I was lucky to have scored the goal in the dying minutes. When I was going in, I was only thinking of scoring, that is why I scored the goal.

The fans were great today; a nice loud crowd. You celebrated with the fans today. How much does it mean for them?

We won today. So, I am happy for the fans. Thank you so much.

You pointed to the jersey when you celebrated. Any meaning to that?

This is the new season, and I got my first goal, that is why I celebrated like that.