I-League 2018-19: Chennai City FC vs Mohun Bagan AC - Chennai almost sealed the deal as the Spanish trio continued their impressive show
Full Time: Chennai City FC 3-1 Mohun Bagan AC
Scorer: Néstor Gordillo (8'), Sandro Rodríguez (15'), Pedro Manzi (23') for CCFC and William Lalnunfela (37') for MB
Hero of the Match: Néstor Gordillo (CCFC)
In a very crucial game of the against the 'Kolkata Giants' Mohun Bagan, Chennai City FC almost sealed the deal to get one more step closer to the Hero I-League 2018-19 title as they outplayed the Mariners 3-1 on Sunday, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore.
After today's encounter, table toppers Chennai City FC reached the 40-point mark, 7 points more than Real Kashmir FC who are at the second place in the league table. Mohun Bagan are currently at the sixth place with 26 points from their 18 outings.
Three changes were made in the starting XI of Chennai City FC which defeated Shillong Lajong FC 4-2 in their previous encounter. Akbar Nawas replaced Jozef Kaplan and Alexander Jesuraj by Tarif Akhand and Sriram. Roberto Eslava also returned to the pitch today against the Mariners.
On the other hand, Mohun Bagan coach Khalid Jamil brought Omar Elhusseiny and Lalramzauva Khiangte back in the starting XI and won 2-1 against Aizawl FC, replacing Mehtab Hossain and Amey Ranawade.
Let's have a look at the three major reasons why Chennai City FC outplayed Mohun Bagan 3-1.
#3 Chennai City FC dominated the midfield with the ball possession
It were the hosts who kept their dominance over the visitors throughout the match. Akbar Nawas' men snatched the match from the Mariners in the first half as the scoreline became 3-0 within just 23 minutes in favour of Chennai City FC.
Mohun Bagan players were surprisingly allowing the opponent players to have the ball possession in favour of them. There was no such urgency to score, even the Mariners were lacking in the defence too. Lots of miss-passes and misunderstandings between the Mohun Bagan players gave Chennai City FC their desired advantage.
Even though William Lalnunfela scored in the 37th minute for the Mariners, it was not enough to make an impact on the CCFC side. Mohun Bagan forwards failed to create any notable goalscoring opportunity throughout the match. The 'team game' was missing in today's match which was expected from Khalid Jamil's men. The statistics of today's match is clearly telling the storyline of the match as it ended up 3-1 in favour of the hosts.