It won’t be exaggerating to say that Delhi Dynamos FC forward Marcelinho has been a cut above the rest in the third edition of the Hero Indian Super League. For many, Delhi are favourites to go all the way and what shores up that thought is the presence of the Brazilian in the Delhi ranks.

It was the first time Rio de Janeiro-born Marcelinho was playing in the Hero ISL, completely unaware of the demands of a league running over a short period of two and a half months. Different culture, different food, non-stop travel and so many other firsts greeted him and one can’t be blamed for taking their time before their best came out, but Marcelinho took to the league like a duck to water and hit the ground running in Delhi’s first game of the season and played a big role in last year’s winners Chennaiyin FC’s 3-1 defeat with a brace.

As they say ‘well begun is half done’, it turned out the next few matches didn’t go to plan for Gianluca Zambrotta’s men. Just four points from their next five matches seriously dented their semis credentials. At that point, their only defeat had come against Atlético de Kolkata and Marcelinho had a big hand in that defeat. Soon after his missing the penalty, ATK went straight up the other end and earned a penalty of their own and Iain Hume did the rest.

With Delhi’s campaign getting worse by the day, they needed somebody to buoy them up. It’s at this point that Marcelinho showed he was made of different stuff. Desperate for a win, Delhi travelled to Fatorda and for the first time this season the 29-year-old didn’t start, and when the match remained stuck at 0-0 at half-time, it appeared Delhi flattered to deceive and that they weren’t far from taking themselves out of semis contention.

Frustrated with not converting their chances, Zambrotta had no other option than to bring Marcelinho on and the rest is history. He took just 12 minutes to score a goal that will be etched in fans’ minds forever. The super-sub expertly controlled a long ball and glided past quite a few defenders before unleashing a venomous shot into the back of the net. He wasn’t done yet! Four minutes later, he set up Richard Gadze for Delhi’s second of the night. The Lions left Fatorda with three points and this win would prove to be the elixir as far as Delhi’s semis chances were concerned: they went on to win their next two games comfortably and became the front-runners for the final 4.

“Marcelinho is very important for us and he has played very well so far and he needed recovery so that was the reason behind not starting him and bringing him on in the second half,” a relieved Zambrotta said after the Goa game.

Stellar football pundits were impressed by the Brazilian but there was a general consensus that his best hadn’t come yet. It turned out to be that way and FC Goa had to bear the brunt of Marcelinho’s genius as he scored three goals in the space of 18 minutes against Zico’s men in a 5-1 win. “It is very important for our team to keep scoring goals in every match. We work hard and we want to keep it going. I believe we have to give our best and if everything goes fine, we will win,” a confident Marcelinho said after the match.

Out of Delhi’s 27 goals so far, highest by any team this season, Marcelinho has been directly involved in 14 goals (nine goals and five assists), and he is not far from overtaking ‘goal contributions’ of Stiven Mendoza (16) and Iain Hume (15) from last season. The Lions finished third in the standings and will now play Kerala Blasters FC in the semis and the former Catania-man appears to be ready to inflict more pain on the opposition. These are definitely exciting times for Delhi fans.