Coming into the match with strong momentum after recently securing their place in the I-League 2 with an impressive home performance, MYJ looked sharper and more confident from the start.

ICL Mumbai, meanwhile, also entered the clash on the back of a commendable campaign after fighting their way through the playoff group stage.

The match began cautiously with both teams focused on staying compact and avoiding early mistakes. However, MYJ gradually started looking more threatening in attack.

Their biggest chance of the first half came just before the water break when Shravan made a clever run into the penalty area before being brought down inside the box. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, giving MYJ a golden opportunity to take the lead.

But ICL goalkeeper Pradip Naskar produced a brilliant save, diving low to deny Arif Shaikh’s penalty attempt and keeping the scores level.

Both sides went into halftime locked at 0-0 with everything still to play for.

ICL Mumbai nearly punished MYJ midway through the second half after a costly defensive error during a goal-kick routine.

Paramjeet’s misplaced pass fell kindly to Zeeshan near the edge of the box. Although the chance opened up perfectly for him, the forward slipped at the crucial moment and failed to get his shot away, allowing MYJ to escape.

MYJ responded with a major chance of their own soon after. A quick passing move involving Miit, Sujal and Arvindraj Rajan carved open the ICL defence. Arvindraj delivered a perfectly weighted through ball to Tanmay, who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Yet again, Naskar came to ICL’s rescue with another outstanding save.

Pratham Ghatnur then missed a huge opportunity from inside the six-yard box after brilliantly dribbling past multiple defenders, only to fire his effort wide despite getting into a comfortable scoring position.

However, the striker made amends moments later.
MYJ skipper Kamlesh Nadar floated in a dangerous curling delivery into the box and Ghatnur rose unmarked to power home a header and finally break the deadlock.

The goal proved enough as MYJ held on till the final whistle to seal their place in the MPL 2025-26 final.

With this victory, MYJ also secured their third consecutive top-two finish in the Mumbai Premier League since joining the competition — another sign of the club’s remarkable consistency.

ICL Mumbai will now face Reliance Foundation Young Champs in the third-place playoff on May 21, while MYJ will take on MH Oranje FC in the final of the Mumbai Premier League 2025-26.

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The Gaurs, powered by strikes by Boris Singh and Brandon Fernandes, looked like they would be sealing off a key win in this last-four match as they maintained a comfortable 2-0 lead until the 90th minute of the match. However, it was a game where the in-form stars of both teams came to the fore and delivered tangible outputs to produce one of the most iconic playoffs matches in the ISL.

Boris and Brandon have been the key men for FC Goa upfront lately, with the latter in-fact now having netted in three consecutive league matches. However, the Islanders pulled off the absolute unthinkable, scoring thrice in the final six-odd minutes of the match to grab a hold of this crucial victory, thanks to a brace by Lallianzuala Chhangte accompanied by a goal by Vikram Partap Singh.

Boris opened the floodgates in the 16th minute by tapping in a straightforward square delivery by attacking midfielder Mohammed Yasir. Receiving a long ball on the left flank, Yasir sprinted into the box and sliced in a low cross that was converted into a goal with ease by Boris. Earlier, Mumbai City FC defender Akash Mishra picked up a knock and had to be replaced with Valpuia in the 13th minute of the match.

Chances came far and few in between for the Islanders, with Goa keeping their backline neatly arranged. Manolo Marquez & Co. struck the perfect balance of deft teamwork and individual brilliance upfront, often surprising the Mumbai City FC backline with a smart mix of the two. Their second goal in the 56th minute was a product of the latter, with Brandon breaking free with the ball and depositing the ball into the top corner of the net for the second game running.

It appeared that the result had been cast over the game even before the final whistle had blown, as the Gaurs professionally managed proceedings until the 90th minute mark. But owing to the indomitable spirit of the Islanders, they were starved of a victory in a clash that they held the upper hand over for the major chunk of the game.

Jayesh Rane had a key role to play in both of Chhangte’s goals, setting them up with his slick deliveries amidst close spaces inside the FC Goa box. The first one came amidst a quick break where Chhangte picked the ball from the left side of the six yard box to slide it into the bottom right corner after a precise through ball from Rane. Vikram’s strike two minutes later was through a rebound, with the attacker perfectly placed on the run to collect and hammer the ball in to equalise the scores. Finally, Chhangte capped off the game a few minutes later with a goal fairly identical to his first one of the night. Just like the previous one, it came off a through ball by Rane, but Chhangte was positioned at the centre of the box this time and showed razor sharp accuracy to net the winner and bring curtains down to this enthralling encounter.

Key Performer of the Match

Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mumbai City FC)

Chhangte completed 23 out of his 27 attempted passes tonight. He won two fouls, tackled twice, made one interception, created three goal-scoring chances, and bagged this brilliant brace to bolster Mumbai City FC to the win.

What’s next for both teams?

FC Goa and Mumbai City FC will now head into the second leg of this semi-final fixture on April 29 at the Mumbai Football Arena.

Brief Scores

Mumbai City FC 3 (Lallianzuala Chhangte 90’ 90+6’, Vikram Partap Singh 90+1’) – 2 FC Goa (Boris Singh 16’, Brandon Fernandes 56’)

Stat Pack

Courtesy :- ISL Media

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The Gaurs qualified for the last-four by defeating Chennaiyin FC by 2-1 in their playoffs clash, causing the two west coast rivals to lock horns with each other across 180 minutes for a place in the grand finale of the 10th season of the ISL. Contrastingly, the Islanders were at the receiving end of a 2-1 defeat against the Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the title-winning clash at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on April 15. They still finished the league stages at the second spot, ensuring that they made it straight to the semi-finals and didn’t have to contest the playoffs for the same.

Recent Form:

• FC Goa endured a bit of a lean period after the season restarted. They faced three losses in the first five matches of the second half of the campaign. However, four victories in five encounters before the playoffs meant that they cruised to finish the league in the third place. Even in the knockouts, they were assertive from the offset, securing a two-goal lead thanks to goals by Noah Sadaoui and Brandon Fernandes before Lazar Cirkovic pulled a goal back for Marina Machans.

• On the other hand, Mumbai City FC won eight of the nine games they played after Jamshedpur FC won 3-2 against them in the City of Dreams in February. It all, however, went down the wire and the Mariners managed to edge past them in a hotly contested fixture in the home game of the latter. Will the Islanders overcome that to pack a punch in this game, or will the failure to defend the championship take a toll on their players? Only time will tell.

Overall Form:

• FC Goa ended up securing 45 points in the 22 matches that they played in the league, only three behind the Champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant and two fewer than runners-up Mumbai City FC. They hit the back of the net 39 times, Noah and Carlos Martinez contributing with 11 and 10 strikes each.

• The Gaurs were at the top of their game defensively, leaking only 21 strikes. Though they fell down the ladder due to the upsurge by the Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Mumbai City FC in the last couple of months, FC Goa ensured that they were still the third best team in the league at the end of 22 matches.

• Similarly, Mumbai City FC were at the top of the game both defensively and offensively. They faced the fewest shots (231) and the least amongst them (64) on target, and kept the third-most clean sheets (8) in the tournament this term. The Islanders gave away only 19 goals in the league, in addition to netting 42 times with a shot conversion rate of 13.42%. They also created the most goal-scoring opportunities (216), and will hope to bring their A-game to the table at the Fatorda.

What’s at stake?

FC Goa

• FC Goa are winless in their last 10 meetings against Mumbai City FC, losing and drawing five times each. Against no other team have the Gaurs recorded a longer winless streak in ISL history. However, they are unbeaten in their last four playoffs matches, winning and drawing twice in the time being.

• A victory in this match will make it the first time that they register consecutive victories in this stage of the competition though. Collectively, they manage to build consistent pressure on the opposition, registering 28 touches inside the box per game in the current campaign, in fact, their 645 such touches from 23 games this season is also the highest such total by any side in a single season in competition history.

Mumbai City FC

• Mumbai City FC had a five-match-long winning streak away from home come to an end with their recent 2-1 loss against the Mariners. The Islanders have netted 12 times in their last five games on the road. However, they have been unable to score in five away matches against the Gaurs, which is the most against any side in the ISL.

• FC Goa have some impressive set-piece exponents at their disposal. However, the Islanders have never conceded from a corner this season, and given away only two goals from set-pieces. They will bank on Noah Sadaoui to come out triumphant up top in this match, with the attacker attempting 4.6 shots per game this season, which is the highest such aggregate by any player in a single season of the ISL.

Key Players to Watch Out

Noah Sadaoui (FC Goa)

Noah Sadaoui has scored 11 goals and bagged five assists in 21 appearances this season. He has averaged 24 passes per game at 77% accuracy, making 31 key passes, completing 34 successful dribbles, and creating 36 goal-scoring opportunities. He has taken 50% of his total shots on target and made 80 recoveries in addition to winning 106 duels. Having scored in the last game, he has momentum favouring him in this clash.

Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mumbai City FC)

Lallianzuala Chhangte has netted seven times and assisted six goals in ISL 2023-24. With 99 touches in the opposition’s box, he has averaged 23 passes per game at 84% accuracy. He has made 29 key passes, 30 successful dribbles, and created 35 goal-scoring chances. With a goal conversion rate of 19.44%, he has won 73 duels and made 77 recoveries. Chhangte pulled a late goal back for the Islanders against the Mariners, and will want to be lethal in the semi-finals.

Head-to-Head

Played – 24

Mumbai City FC – 10

FC Goa – 7

Draws – 7

Trivia: Lallianzuala Chhangte (29 goal contributions) is one away from becoming the second player to register 30 goal contributions for Mumbai City FC in the ISL after Bipin Singh (34).

Team Talk

“If you miss a good chance, it’s okay, keep going. If you score a goal, you need to keep going, in a playoffs scenario. Usually, the team that’s mentally stronger qualifies for the final,” FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez mentioned.

“It’s a semi-final and the completion is slightly different from the league stages. We have two games and we have to be really ready from the start. I am happy because boys are positive to bounce back,” Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky said in the pre-match press conference.

ISL Fantasy

Noah Sadaoui (9.1cr)

Has been picked by 44% of the ISL fantasy users in their teams

Jay Gupta (3.5cr)

Has accumulated 93 ISL fantasy points so far

Lallianzuala Chhangte (8.2cr)

Has garnered 80 ISL fantasy points in 2023-24

If not registered already, fans can participate in the overall league or club-based leagues based on their preferences. Create private leagues, inviting friends and fellow football aficionados to compete. Prizes include a Sony PlayStation ®️ ️5 gaming console, EA Sports FC 24, signed club merchandise, and a Gift Card worth INR 20,000, which will be awarded to 100 winners at the end of the season. Sign up at: https://fantasy.indiansuperleague.com/

Where to Watch

Fans across the country can catch the action in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam. Fans can watch the action on linear channels like Sports18 Khel (Hindi), Sports18 1 HD (English), Sports18 3 SD (English, Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali), VH1 SD & HD (English), Surya Movies (Malayalam), News 18 Kerala (Malayalam – select matches) & DD Bangla (Bengali). Fans can also catch the action streaming Live for free on JioCinema, the home of Indian football. In addition to this, as part of FSDL’s partnership with OneFootball, ISL live streams and highlights of all matches of the upcoming 2023-24 season will be delivered across more than 190 countries.

Courtesy :- ISL Media

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Manvir Singh handed the Antonio Lopez Habas-coached side an early lead in the third minute, but Carlos Delgado and Roy Krishna scored once each for Odisha FC to help the team maintain their unbeaten streak at home this season (13 matches) before heading into the second leg of this last-four clash at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on April 28, Sunday. Eventually, both teams brought an end to this hotly contested clash with 10 men on either side, as goal-scorer Delgado and Mohun Bagan Super Giant striker Armando Sadiku were sent off in the 74th and 67th minutes of the match after picking up a couple of yellow cards each.

Both these teams are renowned for their expansive, free-flowing footballing styles. However, they were naturally tightly organised in this match, leaving no gaps exposed in their backlines, compelling each other out of their comfort zones and making them look for unique ways to find the back of the net. For example, Manvir Singh has been a dazzling presence on the flank for the Mariners, but tonight, at 2:21 minutes, he netted the second fastest goal in the ISL playoffs, behind only Lalrindika Ralte’s goal at 2:08 for ATK against Mumbai City FC on December 10, 2016.

The ball was delivered to him from a corner by dynamic striker Dimitrios Petratos. Petratos had assisted both of the goals by the Mohun Bagan Super Giant in their 2-1 win in the title-winning clash against Mumbai City FC earlier this month. He carried that rich vein of form in this match, providing a razor sharp cross that Manvir, positioned at the centre in the box, headed home to break the deadlock. Odisha FC were not left too far behind though, replying in similar fashion courtesy of the duo of Ahmed Jahouh and Delgado nine minutes later. The Moroccan was accurate with his corner delivery, and Delgado made his way through a crowded 18-yard box to deposit the ball into the back of the net.

A rather tense back-and-forth passage of play ensued thereafter, before Roy Krishna finally broke through with the winner in the 39th minute of the match. As the Mariners looked to press high from an Odisha FC goal-kick, custodian Amrinder Singh sensed a unique opportunity and put in a long ball straight towards Krishna inside the Mohun Bagan Super Giant half. Krishna brought the ball down with his head, before sprinting past Hector Yuste and putting the ball beyond Vishal Kaith to become the highest-ever goal-scorer for Odisha FC in a single ISL season with his 13th strike of the campaign.

Key Performer of the Match

Roy Krishna (Odisha FC)

The striker completed 15 out of his 23 attempted passes, along with making a tackle and a clearance each in addition to crossing twice. He scored the winner but refused to celebrate in respect of his former team Mohun Bagan Super Giant.

What’s next for both teams?

Both these teams will now head to the second leg of the semi-final on April 28 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

Brief Scores

Odisha FC 2 (Carlos Delgado 11’, Roy Krishna 39’) – 1 Mohun Bagan Super Giant (Manvir Singh 3’)

Courtesy :- ISL Media

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Q. As player on the Brazilian World Cup squad, you have also faced penalty kicks. What is the feeling that you go through there?
A. Zico- We feel that FC Goa did a good job throughout the competition. Every game that we played was to win that game. But unfortunately we were unable to gift our fans the joy of bring in the finals. Penalty is part of the game and we had practiced for it during our practice sessions. During practice sessions, Amiri had a very good score, but unfortunately today he was unable to score. We had many chances during the game like the penalty that was not called by the referee. I didn’t understand why this referee was called, since he was the referee who gave a penalty to Atletico de Kolkata in their match against Kerala. Such mistakes cannot be made in games like these. In the last match, Bruno was given a red card and today we were not given a penalty.

Q. What do you think is the main reason that you were not able to score in 120 minutes?
A. Zico- The Kolkata team had marked us very well and they tried to neutralize our game and our goalkeeper didn’t manage to defend even one goal. In this kind of games, we get very few chances, which we lost. In the beginning of the game, we had close to 10 opportunities and they had two. The Kolkata team lost a lot of their power without Fikru so they changed their strategy and took the game to the penalty, and they won.

Q. Have you decided to come back for the next season and what are the memories that you will take back to Brazil from India?
A. Zico- Of course I want to come back and I have spoken to the team officials and management. They want me to coach the team for the next two years. But now I need some time to think about the past and the future. I have been away from my family for a long time and I need to take a break. After my break I will decide and give my answer to the club. They want me to stay and even I want to come back to Goa. I would like to say that these four months have been amazing and I have spent some really good moments here. I received so much love from all the people in Goa and from India. All the players worked very hard and were very professional. I had a wish to give the people of Goa the gift of a place at the finals of the ISL, but this is how football is. Things happen but Life has to go on.

Q. It’s been an honour to have you here in India. After losing today’s match, do you think football is a beautiful game or a cruel game?
A. Zico- It is a beautiful, emotional game that touches our heart. Even the Kolkata coach I hear had some health problems, and I hope he is fine and his health recovers. Everything that we work with which involves emotions is beautiful. Sometimes we get bad results and we get upset, not necessarily because of the results, but because of how the results have come.

Q. What did you say to the boys at the end of the penalty shootout and how would the celebrations be since one of the players is celebrating his birthday today?
A. Zico- It is always sad after we face a defeat, but we have to put on a strong face and keep our heads held high, because we have worked very hard. After the penalty, I thanked them for all the time we spent together, for their professionalism and for the hard work that they showed in the games. I wish them a bright future ahead. A big hug to all and thank you.

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