I-League: Mohun Bagan challenge for Chennai City FC

Served fantastically by its in-form Spanish quartet, Chennai City FC will be looking to make the trip to the East more worthwhile with a favourable result against Mohun Bagan.

Chennai City FC's Rorberto Eslava will be the man to watch out for.

The fans of Indian football will have a busy weekend with five cities and the National youth side vying for prominence in the three matches — two in I-League and one in ISL — which promise almost eight hours of excitement on Saturday.

The I-League action starts with the match between defending champion Minerva FC and the young Indian Arrows at Chandigarh (2 p.m.) before moving on to the sport’s oldest centre Kolkata (5 p.m.). This will see former champion Mohun Bagan taking on current leader Chennai City FC (CCFC) at the Salt Lake Stadium before Jamshedpur FC hosts Guwahati-based North East United FC in the ISL fixture.

READ: Minerva Punjab faces struggling Indian Arrows

The most important among the three engagements will be the one happening here as CCFC looks to consolidate its leadership by picking up points against Bagan. CCFC has remained unbeaten in six rounds with five wins and a draw.

Having beaten traditional giants like East Bengal, Churchill Brothers and the former champion Aizawl FC in the previous rounds, the Coimbatore-based side will look to continue its fantastic run as the host tries to regain composure after suffering a 0-3 loss to Churchill in its previous outing at the same venue.

Served fantastically by its in-form Spanish quartet, CCFC will be looking to make the trip to the East more worthwhile with a favourable result against Bagan.

READ: Gokulam keen to settle score with in-form Churchill

While acknowledging the Spanish influence in the side, Chennai City coach Akbar Nawas hailed the performance of the local players who have shown the right approach in combining with their foreign colleagues. The visitor has also bolstered its foreigners’ roster by signing in the Slovakia forward Jozek Kaplan.

“The main phase of our journey begins now. As you go unbeaten in six matches things become tough as the expectations and pressure rise with other teams looking to beat you,” Nawas said ahead of the match.

“Chennai City is at the top of the table and is playing good football. We have to regain our confidence and give our best against them,” Bagan coach Shankarlal Chakraborty said.