Indian Super League
Mumbai, Feb 12: FC Goa defeated Mumbai City FC by 3-1 at the Mumbai Football Arena in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 tonight to break their 13-game-long winless run against the Islanders in the competition.
The Gaurs have thus strengthened their placing at the second spot, bagging 39 points after 20 games with 11 victories and six draws now, as a brace by Iker Guarrotxena and a solitary strike by Borja Herrera in the second essay swung the game in their favour.
Iker Guarrotxena attacked the FC Goa defence single-handedly, taking the onus to score the first goal with a brilliant effort in the 24th minute.Picking the ball at the edge of the 18-yard box, Guarrotxena tip-toed the entire Mumbai City FC defence laterally before getting to a central position, still outside the penalty area, before drilling the ball into the bottom right corner to capture the lead.
The attacker returned to trouble the Islanders when Borja Herrera served him a cross five minutes later, to which the former took a mistimed header that was blocked in time.
However, the Spanish forward doubled the lead for the visitors through the help of Udanta Singh in the 41st minute. The surge of FC Goa offences hadn’t stopped and Guarrotxena made the most of it by positioning perfectly at the centre of the box as Udanta dragged the Mumbai City FC players behind with a darting run down the right flank, beating his nearest marker Vikram Partap Singh.Udanta’s cross barged into the box and met Guarrotxena with absolute perfection, who slotted it into the bottom right corner precisely.
At the brink of the hour mark, Jorge Ortiz laid out a pass for Vikram at a difficult angle, quite distant from the goal on the right side. Vikram rushed his eventual shot but landed the effort on target still, which was saved by Hrithik Tiwari between the posts.
Soon afterwards, Borja Herrera got FC Goa a cushion of an additional goal when he timed his run inside the box perfectly, to jump upon a meek headed clearance by Mehtab Singh. Herrera was unmarked and he deposited the ball into the bottom right corner in the 64th minute. (ISL Media)
