I-League: Pedro Manzi does the trick yet again for Chennai City

Pedro Manzi scored a second hat-trick in a row as Chennai City FC beat Gokulam Kerala 3-2 at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Friday.

Chennai City FC players celebrate with the fans at the Nehru Stadium.

Spanish star Pedro Manzi scored his third hat-trick of the season as Chennai City FC scripted an exciting 3-2 win over a fighting Gokulam Kerala FC in the Hero I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday. Manzi, who struck thrice in the team’s earlier clash, was on target yet again. It was a well directed corner kick that the skipper cashed in to shoot the team into the lead in the eighth minute. But that did not shatter the morale of the visitor. It replied in a fitting fashion ten minutes later through Mudde Musa from Uganda, who belted home a rebound that came his way.

Read: Why I-League is made to play second fiddle in game of television eyeballs The teams showed lots of energy on the field and did not hesitate to march forward. The visiting side occasionally played a bit too rough and, with it, picked a couple of yellow cards.  

Chennai City FC team.

 

It did not matter much for the team as it was hell bent on piling the pressure on the home side. And they fell for it for once when Roberto in a hurry to stop the free-flowing forwards got his hand on the ball inside the danger area. The referee was quick to show the spot and Nigerian Joel Sunday shook a bit before hammering it past the Chennai custodian. The battle was so intense that towards the extra time in the first half a rough tackle by a Kerala player led to a minor scuffle between the players and the referee wasted no time in flashing the red card for substitute Pandian (Chennai City) and Arjun Jayaraj (Gokulam).

Chennai City FC 3 (Pedro Manzi 8, 59, 80) beat Gokulam Kerala FC 2 (Mudde Musa 17, Joel Sunday 38).