Mumbai fizzle in Chennai heat

Braces from Elano Blumer and John Mendoza helped Chennaiyin FC to a big 5-1 victory over Mumbai City FC in an utterly one-sided contest here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday.

Coming into the match on the back of a 1-4 humbling at the hands of Delhi Dynamos, the Chennai outfit, watched on by both the owners Abhishek Bachchan and MS Dhoni, put on a show of strength as they leapfrogged NorthEast United to second place on the table with nine points from four games. 

Brazilian Elano, who has been one of the standout performers in the ISL so far, was once again at the heart of the Chennai midfield and his two penalties on the day meant that he leads the goalscoring charts in the still nascent stages of the tournament.  With the home defence going awol intheir last match, player-manager Marco Materazzi made his debut and he couldn’t have asked for a better start from his side. 

The leaden footed Mumbai City FC defence conceded a penalty as early as the ninth minute and Elano, who has scored in all matches, had no problems in despatching his spot kick past Subrata Paul. 

The away side, who handed out a debut to Nicolas Anelka, would have hoped for a better show from the Frenchman who was nothing more than a passenger for most of the game. Chennai, who started with Mendoza as well as Jeje Lalpekhlua, soon doubled the lead in the 26th minute thanks to an impressive volley from the latter. Elano’s precise ball from the centre of midfield eluded the away side’s defence and Jeje was on hand to send a rasping left foot drive past Subrata. 

Mendoza joined the squad late and thus missed most of pre-season training but he soon found himself on the score sheet, who capitalised on a loose ball after Subrata only managed to parry an Elano free-kick in the 41st minuteThe Colombian added his second and Chennai’s fourth of the evening three minutes later before they added a fifth thanks to another Elano penalty half way through the second stanza.

Mumbai scored a late consolation three minutes before the end through Syed Nabi.