Giggs’ Mumbai retain Premier Futsal title
Beat Ronaldinho’s Delhi Dragons 6-3 at Al Wasl on Sunday
Ryan Giggs’ Mumbai Warriors beat Ronaldinho’s Delhi Dragons 6-3 to retain the Premier Futsal title at Dubai’s Al Wasl Club on Sunday.
Diego Costa’s own goal and a brace from Lucas Francini put Mumbai in front before Esmail Hamdaoui pulled one back for Delhi to make it 3-1 at halftime.
Brazilian 2002 World Cup winner and two-time World Player of the Year Ronaldinho then brought the deficit back to one goal for Delhi, before Francini completed his hat-trick.
Goals either side from Mumbai’s Carlos Gonsalves and Delhi’s Hamdaoui then made it 5-3, before Gonsalves added a late second.
Manchester United legend Giggs was also in Mumbai’s ranks last year when they won the inaugural tournament with a 3-2 win over Kochi in Goa.
Mumbai had earlier beaten former Barcelona midfielder Deco’s Telugu Tigers of Hyderabad 8-6 over two legs to reach this year’s final, while Delhi overcame former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes’ Bengaluru Royals 12-8 on aggregate in Saturday’s other semi-final.
Teams qualified for the semifinals after a six-team roundrobin with rounds in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai since September 15 before the format headed to Dubai last Tuesday for the final round and knockouts.
Other teams and star players involved that didn’t reach the play-offs were the Kerala Cobras of Kochi led by former Real Madrid and Spain defender Michel Salgado and the Chennai Singhams who had former Argentina striker Hernan Crespo as their marquee player.
This was the second edition of the tournament with last year’s inaugural hosting having been played solely in India across Goa and Chennai.