NEW DELHI: Two evenly matched sides -- Mumbai City FC and FC Goa played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the semifinal first leg at the Fatorda Stadium on Friday. The Gaurs twice took the lead in each half, only for Mumbai to peg them back.
The match had everything, multiple goals, quite a few penalty appeals and a flurry of yellow cards with Mourtada Fall lucky to not see red after a two-footed lunge towards the end of the game.
The Gaurs were by far the better team throughout the game, dominating possession and creating numerous chances despite missing the services of Ivan Gonzalez and Alberto Noguera missing out due to suspension. They had a penalty appeal in the 16th minute but referee Pranjal Banerjee waved play on. But four minutes later, Banerjee had no option but to point to the spot after a clumsy foul by Mandar Rao Dessai on Jorge Ortiz from behind. Igor Angulo duly dispatched the spot-kick to notch his 14th strike of the season. The Spaniard now sits tied on top of the Golden Boot standings.
Returning after a four-match ban, Hugo Boumous made an instant impact with a stunning equaliser. He turned away from Edu Bedia, played an inadvertent one-two with Saviour Gama and then made the most of the lucky break, firing a volley into the bottom corner. Both Bartholomew Ogbeche, Fall had chances but Dheeraj Singh stood tall.
The second half was not as entertaining but still saw two equally good goals. Gama ran from the half-way line, given space by the Mumbai defenders, and unleashed a daisy-cutter that crept in past Amrinder Singh. Goa could not hold on to the lead for even 2 minutes as Fall powered a header to equalise.
The Senegalese were a constant threat from set-pieces and that is why the decision to not issue a red card for a dangerous tackle was met by vehement protests from the Goan bench. "I prefer not to talk about it. Everybody saw the game and saw the strange decisions," said Juan Ferrando. The Goa coach also revealed the number of injuries in his squad.
"I had 6 players with big injuries. Princeton may be out for one month. Edu played with pain. It's impossible to play football. In the end, I have a good squad but I'm scared of the injuries. Ahead of the second leg. I need to know who is available to play. I really have 10 players in the squad, I need to talk to medical staff on Sunday to prepare."
Sergio Lobera was far from pleased with his side's display on the night. "Today I am not happy and because I think we had chances to score more goals. We need to be more clinical. We didn't have control of the game and they had the ball and were comfortable for long periods. We had our chances but we didn't take advantage."
All to play for in their second leg set to be played on Monday.