Ahead of the second season of the Indian Super League, striker Nicolas Anelka has revealed that Mumbai City FC was the only team he wanted a second stint with. The former France international played seven games for the Mumbai-based team last season.“When I left Mumbai last season, I said if I have to come back to India, I want to come back only to Mumbai,” Anelka, who is Mumbai’s marquee player-cum-coach, told indiansuperleaugue.com.Considered one of football’s ultimate journeymen, Anelka began his career at the youth set-up of Paris Saint-Germain. He won the Champions League with Real Madrid as a teenager and went on to win domestic leagues in four countries. The robust target man also carried his club success to the international stage where he was a part of the French national sides that captured the 1997 UEFA U-18 European Football Championship, the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship and the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.The 36-year-old was full of praise for the Hero Indian Super League, reserving a special mention for the level of competition that was seen in Season One. “Well I liked the show I saw last year, I liked everything about India, I like fans, I like Mumbai, I like the [competition] level because the level is high as well,” Anelka said.Having featured for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Juventus, the French hitman has won numerous trophies in Europe’s elite competition over a 19-year career. However, Season 2 of the ISL offers a fresh challenge for the enigmatic striker as it also brings the added responsibility of coaching. Anelka maintains this doesn’t necessarily change his or the team’s overall goal for the season.“As a player you know what you have to do, as a manager as well. For me the most important [thing] will be to win games. As a player I want to win games, of course as a manager I want to win games as well so there’s no extra pressure,” he said.Looking ahead to the new season, the mercurial Frenchman believes the team has a potent strike force with several options in attack and a strong squad that is capable of putting up a top show. “We have a strong squad, we have a lot of strikers and we’ll lead our team to score a lot of goals, like I said in football you never know, you can have the best strikers and never score any goals. I hope it’s not going to be like that,” he said.Asked what his experience of working with Mumbai City FC co-owner Ranbir Kapoor has been like, the former French international said: “As you can see, he loves football, he loves Mumbai, Mumbai City. He is dedicated to Mumbai like I am dedicated to Mumbai. He wants to win because he represents Mumbai City.”When asked about his thoughts on Mumbai’s newly-launched Puma jerseys, the former Galactico drew some interesting parallels with his previous teams. “As you can see you look good in it. It’s blue, I’ve played a lot of seasons in blue with Chelsea and French national team. Hopefully we’ll look good and play good and win games,” he concluded.
