Mumbai City’s attacking duo

Brazilian Andre Moritz teamed up with Indian Subhash Singh upfront to deal killer blows in Mumbai City FC’s 5-0 victory over FC Pune City on home turf at the D.Y. Patil stadium.

Elegant and instinctive, the Brazilian scored twice with his left foot and another with his right to become the first in the Hero Indian Super League to score thrice in the same match. The Indian troubled the defenders with runs into gaps and creating space for fellow strikers, including Moritz, to exploit.

Moritz represented Fluminese and Internacional in Brazil before moving to leagues in Turkey and England. He trained with Crystal Palace to regain fitness for the ISL.

Subhash, from Manipur, made his mark as goal-scorer for Air-India in the I-League, switched from East Bengal to Pune FC and has also played for India age group sides.

Talking about his rapport with Subhash despite language problems, the Brazilian said: “I’m happy to play together with him. It is really important to talk when you’re on the pitch. It’s a little bit tough though with this language problem. But football is just one language and once you step on the pitch it’s the same language.”

Manager delighted

Mumbai manager Peter Reid is delighted at the outcome, after deciding to play both in the starting XI and giving them a clear brief of what was expected of them. The Manipuri came in place of Argentine Diego Nadaya from the squad for the first game.

“We saw Subhash and Andre come up front and I thought they were absolutely outstanding. We wanted Subhash to run at them and Andre holding it up,” he said.

Moritz gave credit to his teammates for the turnaround, from the away loss against Atletico de Kolkata to a resounding victory over Pune City. “The whole team played a really good game. It is very difficult to come back from a 0-3 defeat, but in the next game everybody steps up and plays like this.”

Having been with the side during the roller-coaster ride in the ISL, the Brazilian warns against going overboard.

The crowd support was commented upon by both Moritz and Reid. “The way the crowd got behind us for the first home match was amazing. The fans were like the 12th player for us.”