Mumbai City FC faces a disappointing 6-0 defeat to Al Shabab

After FC Goa lost to Persepolis FC last year, this is the second heavy defeat the Indian clubs have faced two years in a row. 

Mourtada Fall, the Captain and defender of the Saudi Arabian club saw an opportunity in the 36th minute and scored a goal to defeat Mumbai City. Along with the captain's incredible goal, Hattan Bahebri made a hat trick and Abdullah Al-Joui and Carlos Junior also scored one goal each. The club accepted that it was a heavy loss for them after defeating Abu Dhabi's Al Jazira goalless in the last game. Des Buckingham, Mumbai City's head coach said, “They’re one of the best teams in this competition. When you don’t quite get things right, and when you’re up against a team who are ruthless, this can happen at this level with a team that has players who haven’t played here.” “It’s a tough loss in terms of the scoreline,” he added. 

Though Mumbai City had multiple scoring chances in the beginning, unfortunately, the club couldn't make use of any of those opportunities. Raynier Fernandes's first attempt at making a goal was dodged by Fawaz Al Qarni, Al Shabab's goalkeeper. This was soon followed by another opportunity being shot down by a double save against Apuia's attempt. 

After Mumbai City lost their chances, Al Shabab scored their first goal in the 19th minute taking the lead. After giving up their first goal to Hattan Bahebri, Mumbai became a little too defensive in their approach resulting in losing the game goalless. Des Buckingham said that he was happy in the first few minutes seeing the club having opportunities to score but the moment they lost their first goal, he could see the game going south. The club could no longer focus on the strategy they had planned. 

Des Buckingham said, “The first half I was pleased, especially the opening 10-15 minutes. We had the chance where we should have scored. But from the moment we gave the goal, we started getting a bit too defensive. We didn’t stick to what we wanted to do.