Santana brace helps Odisha FC thrash Mumbai

MUMBAI: On the eve of the match against Mumbai City FC, Odisha FC’S Spanish coach Josep Gombau had promised to not abandon his style of free-flowing football despite two defeats to kick-start their campaign. True to his word, his team put up an attacking display that left Mumbai City tasting their first defeat of this Indian Super League season, a crushing 2-4 loss here on Thursday.

Aridane Santana was the star for Odisha FC, scoring a goal in each half. The Spanish forward found an ideal support cast in young Indian midfielder Jerry Mawihmingthanga, who provided a couple of assists and also got his name on the scoreboard. Tunisian Mohamed Larbi struck a penalty for the hosts in the 51st minute, while Odisha goalkeeper Francisco Dorronsoro’s howler gave Mumbai a consolation goal in injury time, but the damage had been done in the opening half.

Odisha didn’t have to wait too long to find the reward for their intent. In the sixth minute, Santana headed a throw-in towards Xisco Hernandez, who ran down the right flank, dodged Pratik Chowdhary in the box to fire the ball to the right of a diving Mumbai goalkeeper Amrinder Singh.

Another sublime move came in the 21st minute with Shubham Sarangi feeding a delightful pass to Jerry. Jerry took off on a solo run on the right and cut the ball back to an unmarked Santana, who made no mistake in applying the finishing touch.

The Mumbai defence, which had stood tall without conceding a goal in the first two outings, was crumbling. Jerry found the net from a rebound off the crossbar in the 41st minute to take his team into half-time leading 3-0.

After the break, it was Mumbai’s turn to make the Odisha defenders sweat, and five minutes into the second half, they were handed a debatable penalty, which was duly converted by Larbi. But if Mumbai thought they had a little opening at the door, it was quickly shut by Odisha, with Santana again scoring in the 73rd minute.