A potent attacking-line is essential for a side to win games but a strong backline is perhaps even more integral to a team’s title-winning credentials since a solid defence is what lays down the foundations for any successful team. One look at the Hero Indian Super League 2016 table throws more weight behind this notion, given it’s the league’s meanest defence in Mumbai City FC that has helped Alexandre Guimaraes’ men finish the league stage top of the table.Every great defensive unit requires a strong and vocal leader on the pitch to help his team over the line in difficult circumstances and, Mumbai have found theirs in Romanian centre-back Lucian Goian. The Romanian defender has become an inspirational presence at the heart of defence for Mumbai this year and is a key component in Guimaraes’ Mumbai, who will be making their maiden semis appearance this season.Mumbai City’s defensive organisation and solidity would counter the premise that defending is a dying art in football. Marshalled by Goian, Mumbai have conceded just eight goals in the league stage of Hero ISL 2016. It is the least number of goals conceded by any team in the league stage over all three editions. The number of goals conceded by Mumbai in their last two seasons (21 in Hero ISL 2014 and 26 in Hero ISL 2015) further illustrates the impact Goian has made to their backline, which also happens to have kept most clean sheets (8) by this stage of the league.Goian’s role in Mumbai’s defence cannot be stressed enough. Calm and composed with the ball at his feet while dealing with pressure from opponents, the 33-year-old has been a model of consistency and never looks harried on the pitch. He has won 25 aerial duels, made 31 interceptions, 10 blocks and has also completed more successful tackles (45) and clearances (101) than any other player in the league. Furthermore, his ability to regain possession for his side on a frequent basis has seen him account for 76 recovered balls, more than any other player in the league.He is also capable of contributing in attack and offers an aerial threat from set-pieces as his thumping header from a corner, which rippled the back of the net against Kerala Blasters FC, went to show. For all of Mumbai’s attacking talent with the likes of Diego Forlan, Matias Defederico, Sony Norde and Sunil Chhetri on the pitch, it can be argued that it is Goian who is most integral to their fortunes, given that they secured their maiden semis berth this year more on the strength of their defensive solidity than on the strength of their enterprise in attack.The Mumbaikars will be hoping that the two-time Hero-of-the-Match winner this year can carry his league stage form into the semis as they target the elusive Hero ISL trophy in what has been their best season yet and if his words after their last league-stage game are anything to go by, then it would take a brave man to bet against Mumbai’s title odds. “Before the season started I said we want to be in first place at the end of the league stage but it is not finished and it will finish only when we win the trophy,” a confident Goian said after their 0-0 draw against Delhi Dynamos FC. Surely, a cause for concern for Kerala, Delhi and Atlético de Kolkata.
