Jorge Costa: Referee made a huge mistake but it was a fair win

The Portuguese head coach was unhappy with the referee's decisions and expected a win with a bigger margin.

Mumbai City FC began their season with a bang with their first-ever win at the Kerala Blasters' home stadium. New Tunisian import, Amine Chermiti, slotted the ball past Bilal Khan to hand over a 1-0 win to his side, much to the joy of head coach Jorge Costa.

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WATCH: Match Highlights - Kerala Blasters vs Mumbai City

Costa was elated by their victory, which was only their second opening game victory in the Indian Super League. He said, "I think we did a wonderful game in the first half, I didn’t see but what I remember is that we had more ball, more opportunities to score."

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Despite the victory, the coach wasn’t all that pleased with the performance of the referee Ajitkumar Meitei. He calmly suggested, "It’s important to state that all of us make mistakes and in my opinion, the referee, he made a big mistake in the opening (part) of the game."

"In my opinion again, they deserved a penalty and red card but any way we did our job. And in the other tackle, we lost two important players."

He then went on to detail how the match turned and what he felt about the result of the game.

"We scored, in the last minute they had the opportunity to finish the game 1-1, but I remember, that was the only opportunity they had. So I think it’s a fair result."

Mumbai City’s all-time top scorer and leading hit-man, Modou Sougou, started off the bench and this was something which was hardly seen last season. Sougou was almost always Jorge’s first name on the sheet and his prolific form was one of the main reason for the ascent of the Islanders last season.

When asked about his absence, Jorge said, "Sougou was injured for a lot of time and he was getting back from it. As I said yesterday, I have 25 players."

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"Next game in Chennai I don’t know what will happen. Today it was the first game and I have some problems in the dressing room but okay, we will play with an 11 and we will play with a healthy team and we will go to fight for the three points."

With these words, Jorge concluded the press conference as Mumbai City FC prepare for their next successive away game against Chennaiyin FC where they are slated to face Lucian Goian.

Lucian left on bitter terms and will look to block all passages that lead towards the goal for Costa’s men. It will be an interesting campaign for the Islanders who aim for a winning streak like last season.