AFC: Mumbai City lose 6-0

MUMBAI: After a couple of gritty performances that fetched four points, Mumbai City FC were handed a 6-0 humbling by Saudi Arabia’s Al-Shabab FC in their fifth Group B match of the AFC Champions League in Riyadh on Friday night.

It was the heaviest loss for an Indian club for the second year in the competition. FC Goa lost 0-4 to Persepolis FC last year. The result eliminated the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) champions at the group stage. Mumbai City, who scored a historic first win for an Indian club in the elite Asian event against Iraq’s Air Force Club and then held Al Jazira goalless in the previous game, are last in the four-team group, tied with Al Jazira with one game to go.

Hattan Bahebri (19’, 64’, 66’) scored a hat-trick for the 2010 semi-finalists, and Abdullah Al-Joui (52’) and Carlos Junior (81’) chipped in. An own goal by captain and defender Mourtada Fall in the 36th minute summed up the evening for the debutants.

“It’s a tough loss in terms of the scoreline,” Mumbai City head coach Des Buckingham said. “But they’ve shown their quality and the difference at this level when they’re clinical and take their chances. When you don’t get things right, and when you’re up against a team who are ruthless, this can happen at this level with a team that has players who haven’t played here.”

Unlike their last meeting, when Mumbai City had just three shots on goal in a 3-0 loss, they showed more purpose with 11 shots on the day. It was Mumbai City who had the first real scoring chance, which needed two saves by Al-Shabab goalkeeper Fawaz Al Qarni off a Raynier Fernandes strike and a Lalengmawia Ralte rebound. But once Al-Shabab got on board, and Fall’s attempt to clear Junior’s finish from the goal line instead saw the ball into the net 10 minutes before half-time, Mumbai City lost their shape.