Chennai finished with 43 points, one ahead of Quess East Bengal (QEB), who despite winning their final game in Kozhikode against Gokulam Kerala, saw their dreams of the first-ever title triumph fade away in Coimbatore.

Pedro Manzi, their premiere Spanish striker fittingly scored a goal to join Churchill Brother’s Willis Plaza as the joint top scorer of the league with 21 goals apiece, but the day undoubtedly belonged to the young Gaurav Bora, a versatile defender cum midfielder who capped off a brilliant season with a double-strike when it mattered most for his team.

It did not begin perfectly as Minerva took an early lead in the 3rd minute of the game through Ukranian recruit Roland Bilala. It was off a Juan Querro free-kick from the right flank, that he rose to beat his marker and lodge his header into the back of the net.

Chennai kept pressing thereafter and with Nestor Gordillo missing through suspension, it was left to his fellow Spaniard Sandro Rodriguez to fuel all attacks. He along with Slovakian Jozef Kaplan and Romario Jesuraj, both of whom were constantly switching flanks, were constantly trying to create for Manzi.

For Minerva, most of their openings were being created by Querro from the left flank. The diminutive Spaniard finding goal-scorer Roland again in the 40th minute with a wonderful cross, but the Ukranian could not make most of a free-header this time.

Upon commencement of the second half, Chennai continued to get better control of the game. A Sydney Vanspaul effort in the 53rd minute from distance missed the target, but not by much.

Two minutes later, Chennai got the opening they were looking for on a platter. Akashdeep Singh in an effort to clear inadvertently handled the ball inside the box and referee Santhosh Bhaskaran had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Manzi displayed outrageous confidence in pointing the goalkeeper to the spot where he would be placing the ball and did exactly what to bring Chennai firmly back into title reckoning.

The young Gaurav Bora then made a name for a lifetime with two stunning strikes to put the issue beyond anyone’s doubt. Both goals came off corners taken by Sandro from the right flank.

The first in the 69th minute was earned by Sandro himself who then delivered perfectly and Bora coming in on the far post unmarked connected with a crisp volley to put Chennai ahead.

Then if QEB had any hopes remaining of a dying minute Minerva equalizer, Bora put paid them in the 3rd minute of injury time when off another Sandro corner, he came in and rose to head even more crisply to bulge the back of the Minerva net.

It was a fitting attacking and professional end to a brilliant campaign ably steered by Singaporean coach Akbar Nawas and as Bhaskaran blew for full-time there scenes of emotions and joy all around the stadium.

Also Read: Real Kashmir to the fore as Farooq brace sinks Neroca

Also Read: Bagan go out on a high against Shillong

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With East Bengal breathing down their necks, Akbar Nawas’ side is on the cusp of creating history and all eyes will be on their star forward Pedro Manzi, who has had a breathtaking debut season in Indian football.

The Spaniard, who has scored 20 goals so far, is tied with Churchill Brothers’ Willis Plaza at the top of the Highest Scorers’ race, and if things go according to his plan on Saturday, he can end up with two trophies to cherish for a lifetime.

I-League.org caught up with the 30-year-old marksman for an exclusive chat ahead of the deciding clash. Here are some excerpts.

Q) What are your thoughts on the season so far? Were you expecting to be on top in the final rounds of the season?

PM) We have worked hard to be where we are at this moment on the table. Our philosophy is to go out and win all the matches, and so yes, I have to say we expected to be fighting for the title, come the end of the season.

Q) Your partnership with your Spanish compatriots has been talked about a lot. What are your thoughts on it?

PM) We’ve known each other for years now! We have played together in Spain, which certainly makes things easier on and off the pitch. However, it’s not just about the association between us foreign players – the domestic Indian players also form an important part of the team and have a major role to play.

Q) What are your thoughts on the Indian players in the team? Do you feel they have the potential to make it big in the coming years?

PM) Definitely, the Indian players in the team are full of potential. There are a number of young talents such as Romario Jesuraj, Ajith Kumar, etc. who are constantly improving and help the team perform better in the competition.

Q) What has coach Akbar Nawas’ role been in the team’s strong performance?

PM) The coach has played an extremely important role, especially considering the fact that we are trying to play with a philosophy that is very different from the one played here in India. He has assessed the strengths of each player excellently and turned us into a cohesive unit.

Q) What would being the top scorer and possible league champion mean to you professionally and personally?

PM) Being the golden boot winner is obviously a huge honour but the most important thing is to win the league. The team has worked really hard to get where we are and we just need to keep up the spirit and give our best in the last Hero I-League match. From there, we will look to carry forward our momentum into the Hero Super Cup.

Also Read: Joseph winner helps Gokulam steer clear of relegation

Also Read: Esqueda and East Bengal take title race to final day!

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A win for the Coimbatore-based club is enough to win their maiden national league title in just four years of existence and besides Singaporean coach Akbar Nawas and a host of quality Spanish players, they would have to thank striker Pedro Manzi the most, one would want to believe.

The Spanish sniper has been in phenomenal goal-scoring form in the league campaign overcoming a minor injury scare in between to score 19 times including four hat-tricks.

In fact, it will be billed as a game between the two most prolific strikers of the league, Manzi’s Trinidadian counterpart in the Churchill ranks, Willis Plaza, having netted 18 times for the ‘Red Machines’ this season. The two will be in a dogfight to finish with the maximum goals under their belt with just a game more to play.

Churchill are placed fourth at the moment, with 31 points and a win on Friday could catapult them to the second position.

On the other hand, the visiting team, Chennai City FC, who have recently tied up with FC Basel 1893, are top of the table with 40 points from 18 games so far, with Quess East Bengal (QEB) four points behind in the second spot.

Churchill’s Romanian coach Petra Gigiu said on match day eve, “I will be very happy if we finish on the podium. There are quite a few players like Rowilson Rodrigues, keeper Vigneshwaran Baskaran, Nallappan Mohanraj, Richard Costa who will not be playing tomorrow’s match. Hussain Eldor might join tomorrow’s match. We are happy with our performance this season, compared to the last season.”

Akbar Nawas seemed to more raring to go expressing in the pre-match media conference, “The most important thing for me and the team is to win tomorrow’s match. We want to win every match and become the champion. We want to finish the league on a good note.”

“The secret of our success is training. Churchill is one of those teams which is hard to play. Some of the teams are overly physical but Churchill is a good team with a good coach and mix of players. I think we have good Spanish and Indian players who get along well.”

The simplest equation for Chennai City is to pick up one win from their remaining two matches. That will take them up to 43 points, more than anything QEB can possibly reach.

Chennai, who have been unbeaten at home all season, can wrap up the title with a victory either against Churchill Brothers or Minerva Punjab FC in Coimbatore in the last game.

The Goans will take heart from the fact that arguably the best team of the season have not beaten them so far, their first leg encounter ending in a 2-2 stalemate, where Churchill were done by an own-goal.

On paper, at this stage, Chennai go in as clear favorites but funnier things have happened in football, especially when the title is in sight.

Also Read: East Bengal deliver KO to Real Kashmir!

Also Read: Jamshedpur FC show class against inexperienced Bengaluru FC side

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Chennai City FC is the league leader and is two points clear of debutants Real Kashmir FC. Neroca is in the fifth spot.

The visitors scored thrice in the first half as Pedro Manzi (34’; 41’; 45’+1’) registered his fourth hat-trick of the season. Neroca bounced back in the second half through Felix Chidi’s 52nd-minute strike followed by a goal each from Chencho and Aryn Williams in the 68th and 88th minutes respectively.

Manzi was adjudged the Hero of the Match.

Chennai missed one part of their Spanish armada as defender Roberto Eslava didn’t play with Pandiyan being his replacement. Slovak utility player Jozef Kaplan featured in the first XI as coach Akbar Nawas put Jesuraj on the bench.

Manuel Fraile also made two changes to the home team’s starting line-up as he played Tondomba Singh and U-22 player Naocha Singh in place of Ashok Singh and Abdul Salam respectively.

Neroca dominated the first half as left-winger Singham Subhash Singh troubled the Chennai defence with repeated forays down the left flank.

Two such forays in the 17th and 20th minutes found out Katsumi. The Japanese went closer from the first attempt as he made good contact on the near post but missed the target.

A wonderful ball from Aryn Williams in the 26th minute found Chencho through. The Bhutanese sniper rounded the goalkeeper only to have his attempted cross from a narrow-angle cut out for a corner.

But in the 34th minute, as has been the norm this season, Chennai’s Spanish trio combined to give them the lead against the run of play.

Sandro found Nestor Jesus on the left flank with a long ball from just inside Chennai’s own half. The mercurial Nestor cut in and played Manzi in. Manzi swooped in and slid the ball into the net between goalkeeper Lalit Thapa’s legs. It was his 14th goal of the season so far! Nestor also recorded his sixth assist with as many goals in the season.

Liberian defender Varney Kallon inexplicably gave the ball away to Manzi with only the goalkeeper to beat. The striker drove forward and coolly slotted home over the custodian’s right shoulder in the 41st minute.

Neroca had a chance to get a goal back as Malem was in the clear thanks to a fine ball by Aryn Williams. But the midfielder’s powerful strike was superbly saved by substitute goalkeeper Kabir.

Manzi completed his fourth hat-trick of the season in the first minute of added time. Pandiyan broke away on the right and delivered a cross towards goal and Manzi struck with his left foot out to beat Thapa on the near post.

Neroca had other ideas and was not going down without a fight as they struck early in the second half through substitute Felix Chidi.

Chencho played Chidi inside the box from the left in between two defenders. Chidi controlled the ball, rounded the goalkeeper, and slid it into the empty net for his sixth goal in the league so far.

A wonderful move by Williams from the right had Chidi’s header go wide of the goal from close range. Neroca who had created pressure with two successive corners got their second goal through Chencho.

Singham Subash crossed in from the right flank and Katsumi headed it back towards a lurking Chencho. He controlled and drilled the ball past goalkeeper Kabir to score his second goal in as many games.

This is Chenco’s second stint in the Hero I-League; he was the star performer the previous season.

He missed a chance to draw the game level after a defensive lapse had him one on one with Kabir, who pulled off a brilliant save to deny the hosts.

A shaky Chennai looked to have scraped through for a win only for Neroca to make it 3-3 with Williams’ goal in the 91st minute.

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The 2-1 result was the same as the earlier game at Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) where East Bengal had lost after taking the lead.

Chennai’s Spanish striker Pedro Manzi scored his 11th goal of the season while Romario Jesuraj also scored to take the hosts to the top of the 12th Hero I-League, five points ahead of second-placed Churchill Brothers.

East Bengal are on sixth with a game in hand. Despite Laldanmawia Ralte’s fourth goal of the season their hopes of winning a first ever I-League trophy looks like a mirage.

Both teams made one change to their starting eleven. East Bengal coach Alejandro Garcia was forced to replace Lalram Chullova (suspended after a red-card in the game against Indian Arrows) with Samad Ali Mallick.

Chennai coach Akbar Nawas, on the other hand, played Pravitto Raju in place of Shem Martin Eugene.

East Bengal took an early lead in the ninth minute. As defender Borja desperately headed back across goal in a bid to clear…the ball fell to Ralte who nodded home from close range!

Chennai upped the ante as they searched for an equalizer. A wonderful pass from Roberto Eslava found its way into the box to Nestor only for Samad to shield him away in the nick of time.

As Sandro unleashed a rasping drive from outside the box East Bengal goalkeeper Dagar executed a fine save in the 34th minute. Though Chennai were a goal down into the break they clearly were the better team.

They equalized in the 49th minute thanks to Manzi’s 11th goal of the season. That strike made him the season’s joint top-scorer with Churchill’s Willis Plaza.

Romario Jesuraj had pulled the ball back for an onrushing Edwin Vanspaul in the build-up to the goal. And as Vanspaul’s strike deflected off Manzi and wrong-footed Dagar…Chennai had equalized!

The hosts later went ahead thanks to a brilliant tactical change by Nawas. Raju was sent wide on the right and Romario Jesuraj was brought in-field.

A failed interception by East Bengal left back Manoj Mohammad allowed Raju to lay it off for Romario who shot to the top right past a befuddled Dagar!

Romario Jesuraj was adjudged the ‘Hero of the Match’.

Both teams play their next game in four days’ time. Chennai play Aizawl at home while East Bengal face an in-form Indian Arrows in Kolkata.

Also Read: HERO I-LEAGUE: Norde magic helps Bagan down Neroca FC

Also Read: HERO I-LEAGUE: Real Kashmir inch closer to top after Aizawl stalemate

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The win takes Churchill to second spot in the points table.

Though Marcus Joseph did get a goal on debut still Bino George’s team suffered a sixth loss in as many games. Churchill are now two points behind league leaders Chennai while Gokulam are in eighth spot.

Plaza scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season to go to the top of the goal-scoring charts (he had temporarily lost it to Chennai’s Pedro Manzi). Both teams made wholesale changes to their starting XI.

Gokulam brought in six new names which also included new-recruit Marcus Joseph (for Joel Sunday).

Center-back Fabricio Ortiz made a comeback from suspension while Arnab Das Sharma played in goal.

In contrast, Churchill was forced to bring in new names due to injuries to Hussein Eldor and Wayne Vaz.

Dawda Cessay, Willis Plaza and Anthony Wolfe were paired upfront.

Gokulam got the lead in the 14th minute when James Kithan embarrassingly let in Joseph’s 30-yard strike through his legs!

Churchill almost equalized (after another goalkeeping gaffe!) if it were not for Plaza’s miss from outside the box!

Pritam Singh’s miss off a sitter highlighted Gokulam’s laxity in front of goal.

Cessay leveled the game with a thunderous left-footed strike in the 37th minute.

George was forced to replace an injured but in-form Rajesh with Mohammad Rashid in the second-half.

He had earlier brought in Abhishek Das for Jestin George.

Churchill who attacked relentlessly were frustrated by the heroics of Das Sharma in the second-half.

Willis Plaza got his 10th goal of the season with a stabbed volley off a cross from the right in the 56th minute.

Plaza scored his second (and Churchill’s third) with a fine solo effort in the first minute of injury time.

Dawda Cessay was named as the ‘Hero of the Match’.

Also Read: HERO I-LEAGUE: Bagan down Minerva to stay alive in title race

Also Read: HERO I-LEAGUE: Experience to the fore as East Bengal edge out Arrows

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Manzi scored in the eighth, 59th and 80th minutes to cancel out Mudde Musa (17th minute) and Joel Sunday’s (38th minute) goals for Gokulam. It may be noted that both sides were reduced to 10 men at the end of the first half.

Chennai dominated possession and took advantage of the extra space which had opened up in the second half. With this win, Chennai move to 24 points from eleven games and are three clear of Neroca FC at the top of the standings. 

Gokulam remain at eighth…their title hopes well and truly buried!  They adopted physical tactics to stop the marauding Spaniards of Chennai and it seemed to have worked initially. Despite the Kerala outfit taking a lead into the break the hosts later clawed their way back in the second half.

Coach Bino George selected Joel Sunday and Rajesh in place of Fabricio Ortiz (out for a card offence) and Pritam Singh. The hosts made one change as they brought back Romario Jesuraj for Vijay.

Chennai took the lead in the eighth minute when Manzi’s first-time volley bounced and eluded keeper Shibinraj. Though defender Abhishek Das tried to clear off the line it still went onto the roof of the Gokulam net!

Gokulam equalized nine minutes later as Musa’s reflex shot bulged the roof of the Chennai net. The Kerala outfit soon earned a penalty as Marton Eugene was judged to have handled the ball inside the box.

Though Sunday, after having scored off a penalty in the previous game, missed this time around (thanks to a fine save by Santana) he still hit home on the rebound to score his third goal of the campaign.

Also, Gokulam’s Jayaraj and Chennai’s Pandiyan Srinivasan got into a needless scuffle and were promptly sent off just before half-time.

Chennai upped the ante in the second-half while Gokulam’s Christian Sabah missed a golden chance to score. And as Sandro hit the side netting in the 58th minute…Chennai knew they were getting closer to a goal!

A minute later, Manzi struck his second (and ninth in the league) goal as he shrugged off Abhishek Das to head over Shibinraj into the Gokulam goal. Chennai were back on level terms!

Manzi got his hat-trick in the 80th minute when he pounced on the rebound ahead of a defender and drilled it into the Gokulam net. With that goal he became top-scorer in the league with 10 goals so far.

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