ISL 2020-21: Kerala Blasters defeat Mumbai City FC 3-1 in friendly

Kerala Blasters defeated Mumbai City FC 3-1 in a friendly encounter on Sunday at the Nagoa Panchayat ground. The match mostly featured players from both sides who did not play the teams’ first match of the Indian Super League (ISL) season. Facundo Pereyra scored a brace while Jordan Murray got the other goal for Kibu Vicuna’s men.

The Blasters went down 1-0 to ATK Mohun Bagan on the opening day of the season. The next day, Sergio Lobera’s Mumbai lost by the same score-line against a resurgent NorthEast United led by head coach Gerard Nus. Both teams looked slightly leggy in their respective matches and did not give a great account of themselves. Kerala’s attack especially looked out of sorts as they struggled to create any goalmouth openings of note in the 90 minutes. Hence, it is understandable why the two coaches would have wanted to get some extra minutes into the players’ legs and get them ready before the upcoming matches in the ISL.

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It is understood that Prabhsukhan Gill, Rohit Kumar, Abdul Hakku, Givson Singh and the two goal-scorers all featured for the Tuskers. Facundo and Murray played 45 minutes each after missing out on the majority of the match against ATK Mohun Bagan. They will definitely be looking to get up to speed as soon as possible. On the other hand, Mumbai fielded just one foreigner in their starting eleven. Kerala face NorthEast next on the 26th while Mumbai City will lock horns with Lobera’s former side FC Goa a day before.