At Sunday’s match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, the Kerala Blasters gave their home fans the best Christmas present ever by defeating Mumbai City. Imports Dimitrios Diamantakos and Kwame Peprah scored the goals.
Diamantakos scored with style in the 11th minute, but it wasn’t until the fifth minute of the first half’s extra time that Perpah scored with pinpoint accuracy.
Mumbai is in third position with 19 points from 10 matches, while Blasters are in second place with 23 points from 11 games in the ISL rankings. To put the home team ahead early, Diamantakos scored his fifth goal of the year. After advancing along the left side of the field, Peprah laid the groundwork for Diamantakos to score with a low cross that beat Jose Arroyo (Tiri) in the Mumbai penalty area.
The Greek striker fooled Jayesh Rane with a deft touch of his back heel. Diamantakos scored Blasters’ first goal with a beautiful left-footed shot that beat custodian Phurba Lachenpa.
The loss of Rostyn Griffith, Mumbai’s rock in defence, to a hamstring injury came shortly after the team’s first setback. Duch attacker Abdenasser El Khayati came on for him as midfielder Van Nieff forced his way back into the starting lineup.
Long balls were crucial in Mumbai’s search for an opener, a departure from their typical wing-based assault strategy. However, Blasters’ imposing Marko Leskovic proved too much for them.
In the 22nd minute, Jayessh Rane attempted a strong long-range shot that Sachin Suresh saved. It was their finest chance of the first half. However, the ball struck the crossbar, preventing the away team from scoring an equaliser. At the third minute of the second half’s extra time. KP Rahul had a fantastic opportunity to put Blasters up 2-0, but he blew it.
Rahul took a shot from close range, but the Mumbai custodian was off his line.
Their second goal, however, came quickly after the first. Diamantakos gave Peprah the nod he had previously offered by setting him up with the assist.
Using a low cross from Mohammed Aimen, Diamantakos found Peprah in the heart of the box. Peprah finished off a feed from Diamantakos with a great strike, putting Blasters ahead 2-0 at halftime and they maintained that lead until the final whistle.
With a 2-1 victory, Mumbai City handed Mohun Bagan Super Giant its first league loss in a thrilling matchup. Nine yellow cards and seven red cards dominated the match. Yellow cards were slapped on Mumbai’s Akash Mishra and Bagan’s Rahul Gupta, Liston Colaco, Hector Yuste, and Asish Rai.
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Even though Bagan had a goal from Jason Cummings, Mumbai came out on top thanks to strikes from Bipin and Stewart.