Mumbai City have eased into the final of the ISL 2023-24 season with an assured 2-0 win against FC Goa in their semifinal second leg on Monday. This saw them win the two-legged tie 5-2 on aggregate and they will now face Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake on May 4, Saturday.
Goals from Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Lallianzuala Chhangte saw City were enough to see off a rather meek Goa challenge in front of a raucous home crowd at the Mumbai football arena. The first half was goalless as Rahul Bheke shut down Goa's best attacking weapon, Noah Sadaoui. Dribble after dribble was met by impeccably timed challenges and with Brandon shackled in midfield, Goa were toothless in attack. Neither Carlos Martinez nor Udanta Singh affected the game at all. In fact, in that first half, Mumbai had the two best chances - Tiri smacking the post after a gorgeous van Nieff corner, Chhangte hitting the post after being played in behind by a superb Diaz through ball.
As the second half started, there was a sense that City were climbing on top, Goa's attacks meeting end after frustrating end in the wall of sky blue at the edge of the City box, led by Bheke. The first goal came in the 69th minute after another van Nieff corner caused all sorts of bother in the Goa box. Bheke was in the middle of it all as he thundered a header into Dheeraj Singh, and Diaz was on hand to sweep home the rebound. It was a display of the kind of poaching instinct that makes the Argentine such a deadly striker.
That goal meant the aggregate went to 4-2 and Goa had to throw themselves forward. Which inevitably opened up big spaces in behind their defence. Of one such counter, Vikram Pratap Singh played in a lovely through ball for Chhangte who raced clear of Udanta, before slowing down and allowing the Goa man to run past, then sidestepped a charging Dheeraj and passed it into the back of an empty net. For a moment there, it was like Chhangte had slowed down time.
Goa kept going at it, but they didn't overtly trouble Phurba Lachenpa in the Mumbai City goal. They will be without van Nieff in Kolkata (he picked up a yellow for a spat with Noah) but right now that will not be on their mind as they celebrate a big semifinal win.
You can relive all the action right here on the blog: