Raphael Romey (right).Kerala Blasters FC midfielder Raphaël Romey made his third Hero Indian Super League appearance against Mumbai City FC, slotting in alongside Scotsman Stephen Pearson to form a formidable duo in the centre of the park. The two looked completely at ease as a midfield partnership, using their composed passing and astute reading of play to control the game. Frenchman Romey rued the ultimate result, a 0-0 draw in which Kerala would have hoped to pick up all three points, and indeed looked like doing so after dominating the game for large spells. Nonetheless, the midfielder was pleased with his performance and that of his teammates. Romey was also delighted by the atmosphere created by the fans in Kochi, who were in full voice throughout the game and roared their team on whenever they went forward to attack. After the game, Romey spoke exclusively to indiansuperleague.com and shared his thoughts about the game and his experience of playing football in India.Do you think 0-0 was a fair result for both teams?I think we came on the pitch looking for three points. It was very important to catch Mumbai; they were on 10 points and we were on 8 points (at the start of today’s game). I think we ran a lot; we did our best.What do you think was lacking in the team’s performance today?I think we played our best. We know that towards the end of the game all the teams tend to become very tired, so in the last 30 minutes you need a lot of energy to score. You need energy for performing passing combinations to imbalance their defence."Thank you to the crowd for turning up in such large numbers."Raphael RomeyHow has it been playing alongside Stephen Pearson?We didn’t know each other before the ISL, but he is a really nice person off the pitch. And playing with him becomes so easy because he is such a great player. He has played at the top level all his life, he knows football and he is such a good player. It’s really a great pleasure to play at his side.How has your ISL experience been so far?It’s really been amazing! I was always playing in France, but I cannot remember a better atmosphere anywhere I’ve played. What an amazing experience we’ve enjoyed every day – the crowd has been amazing. Thank you to the crowd for turning up in such large numbers. It’s really been a pleasure to play for them and it’s been a great honour to play in the very first ISL.
