ISL 2017/18: Rino Anto and CK Vineeth hit back at ex-Kerala Blasters boss Rene Meulensteen with goal celebration; watch video
What's the story?
Kerala Blasters have made headlines a number of times this season, though not for all the good reasons. Recently, Rene Meulensteen, who was sacked by the Kochi-based side after a string of poor results, criticized club captain Sandesh Jhingan for his off-field antics and accused him of unprofessionalism.
That had not gone went well with the Blasters supporters who went on social media to express their displeasure and also to show their support to Jhingan.
In Sunday night's 2-1 loss to FC Goa, Kerala Blasters' CK Vineeth and Rino Anto hit back at Meulensteen through their goal celebration, in which they mimicked drinking from huge pitchers, something that Meulensteen had accused Jhingan of doing excessively.
In case you didn't know...
After a 5-2 loss to FC Goa in the reverse fixture last year, Meulensteen claimed that he found Sandesh Jhingan out partying and drinking until 4 am. He slammed the club captain for his poor demeanour and called it a poor practice from a fan favourite and an Indian international.
The heart of the matter
Against FC Goa on Sunday, Vineeth scored the equalizer for the Blasters and then celebrated in a way that no one would have expected.
He and Rino Anto got together and gestured actions of drinking in a way to hit back at the claims made by the former manager against Sandesh Jhingan. It is safe to say that the celebration was absolutely loved by the Blasters faithful.
Incidentally, this celebration was not a spur-of-the-moment action.
Instead, the two were seen practising this celebration ahead of the match as well, as is seen in the above picture.
What's next?
The controversy between Rene Meulensteen and Sandesh Jhingan has further established the fact that this has been a season to forget for the last season's finalists. Meulensteen's successor - David James has done fairly well since being appointed as the manager but just three wins so far in the competition is pretty poor showing from a side like Kerala Blasters.
Author's take
It was the turn of the players to get back at Meulensteen, who many thought had lacked class as he accused Sandesh Jhingan of unprofessionalism. Only one side of the story has been heard as of yet, so it is not right to jump to conclusions but the players have made clear of their feelings towards the Dutch manager through their actions.