Mourtada Fall: The second leg is another match
A five-star performance from FC Goa saw them subject Mumbai City FC to a 5-1 defeat in the first leg of their semi-final encounter at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Saturday.
A five-star performance from FC Goa saw them subject Mumbai City FC to a 5-1 defeat in the first leg of their semi-final encounter at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Saturday. The Islanders took the lead through Rafael Bastos, but an opportunistic strike from Jackichand Singh and a header from Mourtada Fall handed Goa the lead before half time. Ferran Corominas, Fall and Brandon Fernandes scored three more goals for Goa in the second half.
After the match, indiansuperleague.com caught up with Goa's Mourtada Fall and Brandon Fernandes for their post-match reaction.
Thoughts on Brandon’s assist to you.
Yeah, we’re always working on set-pieces in training. It has worked twice already this season and twice again tonight. We’re always working for this kind of success in training.
How did it feel to score the two goals?
This is work from the team and not only me. I’m happy yes, but I think we work for this a lot. Now, I’m happy to say congratulations to the whole team as well as our fans.
How does it feel to have a four-goal advantage?
Yeah, this is football, my friend! Only today I am thankful for this match, but the second leg is another match. We don’t think a lot about winning 5-1 or that it’s going to be easy. Football is football. We’ll play the second match strong as well and try to win it.
Thoughts on the match and Mourtada Fall’s brace.
Mourtada (Fall) is a very important player for us, especially when he comes up for set-pieces. As you can see, he is strong and tall, so he is obviously our target man. We try to find him and when we find him, you know he can do it. Like today, he showed on the pitch what he can do in the set-pieces.
Do you practice your set-pieces with Mourtada Fall?
We have many target men, so we train different types of set-pieces and we have variations. For some of the variations, he is the target man. When we focus on these types of things, we try to pick out a man and when you do it perfectly, he is always in the right position. So, I must say, he is our main target man.
Thoughts on your goal.
Yes, an important goal for me also and the team as well. It’s a big advantage for us having played away and scoring five goals. I’m very happy with the goal and obviously, for the team also.
Any message for the travelling fans?
I would like to thank them. They have been here in large numbers. It’s amazing to see so many fans coming and supporting us in the away matches and I can’t wait to go back and play the home match. Then obviously, if we go to the finals, we’ll be playing here, so a big thank you to the fans.
How important is the win?
It is a big boost for us like I said. Going into the second leg, we still have another 90 minutes and anything can happen then, but we are very confident and we’ll go with a positive mind to play that match and try to win that match
From the Mumbai camp, a disappointed Sauvik Chakrabarti shared his thoughts about the result.
What went wrong today?
We started well actually, but after that, our concentration decreased, especially in set-piece situations. We conceded some silly goals. Going forward into the next match, we’ll do our best to change that.
What will the gameplan be for the second leg in Goa?
Right now, I cannot speak about the gameplan because the situation is dire. We will go tonight and see what mistakes we’ve made and try to rectify them.
A word on the home support.
We have the best fans in the Hero ISL. We had such a terrible match but they still stand by us. To the Mumbai City FC fans, thank you.
Read the Match Report here.
