Mumbai City FC 0-3 Al Shabab: Player ratings as Al Shabab thrash the Islanders in AFC Champions League
By Mudeet Arora
In what was a disappointing start to their maiden AFC Champions League campaign, Mumbai City FC fell to a 0-3 loss to Al Shabab in their opening clash. However, the Islanders' individual performances weren't as bad as their result.
Let's dive into the player ratings for both teams:
Mumbai City FC vs Al Shabab player ratings
Mumbai City FC:
Lachenpa - 7/10
Bheke - 6/10
Mehtab Singh - 6.5/10
Mourtada Fall - 6/10
Mandar Rao Desai - 7/10
Ahmed Jahouh - 7/10
Lalengmawia - 6.5/10
Lallianzuala Chhangte - 6/10
Vikram Singh - 6.5/10
Cassio Gabriel - 6/10
Bipin Singh - 5.5/10
Substitutes:
Vighnesh Dakshinamurthy - 6.5/10
Raynier Fernandes - 6/10
Gurkirat Singh - 6/10
Asish Rai - N/A
Al Shabab:
Qarni - 7/10
Sagourg - 8/10
Altambakti - 8/10
Sharahili - 7.5/10
Shamekh - 6.5/10
Banega - 9.5/10
Monassar - 8/10
Paulinho - 6/10
Al-Abid - 8/10
Carlos - 8/10
Babhir - 8/10
Substitutes:
Al-Ammar - 7/10
Al-Jawaey - 7.5/10
Shariri - 6/10
Omran - N/A
Muwallad - N/A
The Islanders started with Lachenpa in goal, Mandar Rao Dessai, Mourtada Fall, Mehtab Singh and Rahul Bheke comprised of the back four. Vikram Singh, Ahmed Jahouh, Ralte and Chhangte formed their midfield with Cassio Gabriel playing in an attacking role alongside Bipin Singh.
Al Shabab started the game on the front foot, but the first big opportunity of the game fell to the Islanders as Mandar Rao Desai forced the opponent goalkeeper into a last gasp save. On the same counter-attack, Al Shabab were stopped in their tracks by a last gasp tackle from Bipin Singh.
Both teams were struggling to get a hold of the game with 20 minutes in, but the best chance of the first half fell to Al Shabab as Ahmed Sharahili had a clear opportunity to give his team the lead, but his attempt wandered wide of Mumbai City FC's goal.
Just minutes after this chance, Lachenpa brought down Carlos Junior just inside the box to hand Al Shabab a penalty.
Former Sevilla midfielder Ever Banega stepped up to hand Al Shabab the lead in the game as Mumbai found themselves chasing the game at half-time.
After multiple saves from Lachenpa in the second half, Des Buckingham decided to change things just before the hour mark as he brought in Raynier and Vighnesh in for Vikram and Mandar.
10 minutes later, Ever Banega scored his second on the night to give Al Shabab a 2-0 advantage as Abdullah Al Joui pulled back a very good pass to Banega who fired his shot past Lachenpa from just outside the box.
Things got out of hand eight minutes later in the 77th minute as Al Shabab scored their third goal of the night courtesy of Al-Ammar.