Mumbai: The Maximum City is used to raising heroes from across the world since the advent of the premier league format. Call it Kieron Pollard (Indian Premier League) or Lee Chong Wei (Indian Badminton League); they have all become household names playing for Mumbai. On Saturday, Andre Moritz –a Brazilian whose hat trick helped Mumbai City FC thrash FC Pune City 5-0 at the DY Patil Stadium here – included himself in the elite list.
Read: Check out how the action unfolded at D Y Patil Stadium
Moritz’s first goal came through a wonderful supply by Lalrindika Ralte. He cut through the Pune defense and netted a beauty. Next, it was a corner, also taken by Ralte which landed on Moritz’s foot deflecting off Manuel Friedrich.
However, another man who stole the show for the hosts was Subhash Singh Singam. He was running throughout the turf, much to the surprise of the foreigners in the opponent team. Minutes after the corner, he stormed near the Pune box hoodwinking Bruno Cirillo and converted a sublime through pass from Jan Stohanzl.
The hosts pocketed the match in the first half itself leading 3-0. Pune had their chances but could not capitalise. Lenny missed a volley early on, which also made the crowd mock him. Why? Well, he missed the ball and kicked in the air. Ashutosh Mehta missed a couple in the first half. But the closest Pune could get to a finish was David Trezeguet’s bicycle kick which hit the cross bar.
The match also recorded a series of bookings (four yellow cards). Two minutes within kick off, Peter Costa (Mumbai) tackled Trezeguet which resulted in a free kick but his shot went over the bar. The next one to fall under the referee’s wrath was Lenny Rodrigues (Pune) who tripped Tiago. The others, meted with the same treatment, were Stohanzl (Mumbai), Pritam Kotal and Cirillo (Pune).
The much awaited moment for the hosts came in the 68th minute when Fredrik Ljungberg took the field. Nonetheless, Moritz completed his treble in the second half with an assist from Tiago in the 71st minute. Pune had given up by the 80th minute but it seemed Peter Reid’s boys were hungry for more. The goal fest was completed by Johan Letzelter in the 85th minute. The irony is that he was unmarked when Nadong Bhutia passed the ball to him down the right flank. Mumbai City FC have now earned three points and are second in the points table, next to Atletico De Kolkata.
