Mumbai City FC Vs Al-Shabab: Three key battles to watch out for

The Islanders are only the second Indian club to participate in the AFC Champions League.

Mumbai City will embark on their first AFC Champions League campaign when they face Saudi Arabian giants Al-Shabab on Friday. The Islanders have the hopes of Indian football on their shoulders. They will surely aim to better the valiant showing produced by FC Goa last year and go one step further.

However, Des Buckingham’s side definitely have their work cut out. After an underwhelming Indian Super League (ISL) season, they failed to secure a top-four finish. Subsequently, Mumbai City face even more daunting challenges in Asia’s most prominent competition.

Al-Shabab are packed with quality, seasoned internationals and have a lot of continental experience on their side. They have the kind of players who know how to excel in this kind of competition. Therefore, there should be some enticing battles to look out for all over the pitch when these two sides meet. Thus, we pinpoint three key battles to keep an eye on.

3. Mehtab Singh Vs Luciano Vietto

Al-Shabab strengthened their squad for the AFC Champions League by loaning in Argentine striker Luciano Vietto from Al-Hilal. Having played in La Liga for clubs like Villarreal, Sevilla, and Atletico Madrid, Vietto boasts tons of experience playing at the top level.

He’s already scored two goals in three appearances for Al-Shabab and is a quick, deadly forward with sublime finishing skills. Mehtab Singh definitely has to be at his best to survive against the fiery striker.

Singh made himself a mainstay in the Mumbai City team in the ISL and produced some solid performances against challenging foreign strikers. The 23-year-old needs to be extremely alert at the back with Mourtada Fall and maintain a stubborn backline. He needs to use his agility to close down spaces for Vietto and not let him have any freedom in the final third.

Mehtab also has to mark him tightly and use his defensive IQ to make clutch clearances for his team to survive the onslaught from the Al-Shabab attackers.

2. Bipin Singh Vs Fawaz Al Saqour

Bipin Singh maintained his solid form for Mumbai City in the recently concluded ISL season, scoring six goals and providing three assists in 20 appearances. Despite their topsy-turvy form, the winger continued his impressive work as an electric, creative outlet. However, the 27-year-old will now need to take things to a whole new level, if he has to make a big impact in the AFC Champions League.

In the opening game, the Mumbai City man will face a tough challenge against Al-Shabab right-back Fawaz Al Saquor. The Saudi Arabian defender is a stalwart for his side, having played in all their Saudi Professional League matches this season.

Al Saquor’s a more attack-minded right-back who loves to venture forward, making overlapping runs and delivering crosses into the box. However, he’s also a sturdy figure defensively who will not make things easy for Bipin. The Mumbai City winger needs to use his clever movement to burst into open spaces and send inviting crosses into the box. He also needs to be flexible with his runs and anticipate moves better to get into more scoring areas.

1. Ahmed Jahouh Vs Ever Banega

The biggest name and arguably the biggest threat at Al-Shabab is their star midfielder Ever Banega. The Argentine midfielder spent five years at La Liga side Valencia. He also played for Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan – as well as making over 60 appearances for Argentina.

Banega is a clever playmaker, boasting impressive creative ability that allows him to set up chances out of nothing. He’s an impressive dribbler, boasts solid defensive contributions and a lot of energy to win back possession, and is also versatile in being able to play in multiple roles.

Banega is guaranteed to be a huge threat to Mumbai City and Ahmed Jahouh has his work cut out for him. Jahouh’s own creative ability, especially from set-pieces is well known, but he’ll have to do more than pass the ball forward or create chances. He’ll need to be extremely alert in midfield and use his physicality and ball-winning ability to trouble Banega.

He can’t allow the Argentine midfielder to gain total control in midfield and must mark him strongly as well as level him with hard tackles. If the Mumbai City midfielder is unable to keep Banega quiet, the Al-Shabab man can run riot.

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