Former footballer lauds Mumbai City FC's performance in the AFC Champions League | OneFootball

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90min

·30 April 2022

Former footballer lauds Mumbai City FC's performance in the AFC Champions League

Article image:Former footballer lauds Mumbai City FC's performance in the AFC Champions League

Former ATK Mohun Bagan star Darren Caldeira has hailed Mumbai City FC's performance throughout their AFC Champions League campaign.

The Islanders came up with two victories and a draw from a group they were tipped to win no games.


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With seven points, the 2020-21 ISL champions finished second in their group in an incredible result.

Al Shabab made it to the round-of-16 whereas the Islanders failed to advance as they were unable to match the points tally of the three best second placed teams in the AFC Champions League's West Zone.

Speaking in an interview with News9, Caldeira spoke about the Islanders and their impressive performance.

He said, "They (Mumbai City FC) were very impressive. There was not much expectation from a team in its maiden appearance. Mumbai didn't put all their players behind the ball to defend and pick up a goal from set-pieces. Instead, they tried to play out from the back and build attack

"There were several nervy moments while trying to do that but it didn't stop them from trying repeatedly. In these tough games, you don't want to concede early, or give away silly goals. Apart from one or two games, Mumbai committed minimal defensive mistakes.

"I was impressed by their approach. They went out to play, not just sit back and defend and get a draw. They were obviously keen not to concede, but at the same time they looked to score goals, which is why they deserve credit as maintaining that outlook against top opposition in ACL is not easy."

The Islanders lost their opening game 0-3 before coming up with a win against Air Force Club. They then lost to Al Jazira and held them to a draw in the next game. Mumbai were then hammered 0-6 by Al-Shabab before coming up with another 1-0 win over Air Force Club in their final group game.

Mumbai City FC completed the double over three-time AFC Cup Champions Air Force Club and that will be their major achievement from the campaign.

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