New Delhi: Former France and Chelsea star Florent Malouda scored twice, inspiring Delhi Dynamos to a 4-1 drubbing of defending champions Chennaiyin FC in an ISL-3 match here Wednesday.
The 36-year-old Malouda, leading the Delhi side, continued his impressive performance as he struck the home side’s second and the fourth goal in the 25th and 85th minutes respectively while he made the assists in the other goals scored by Richard Gadze (15th) and Kean Lewis (54th) in front of 15,000-odd crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. It was also the first time that Malouda scored this season. Chennaiyin captain Bernard Mendy scored his side’s lone goal in the 37th minute.
With the win, their third on the trot and fourth overall, Delhi now have 16 points from nine matches and they dislodged Mumbai City FC (15 points from nine matches) from the top spot to strengthen their chances for a last four berth. Delhi had also beaten Chennaiyin 3-1 in the first leg.
For Chennaiyin, whose coach Marco Materazzi made five changes from their last match playing XI, this was their second loss in the tournament and first in an away match this season. They are currently in sixth position in the table with 10 points from eight matches.
Playing their fifth home match, the Gianluca Zambrotta-coached Delhi side were clearly the better side with a lot more possession, distribution of the ball with neat passing while Chennaiyin played aimlessly for most part of the match.
Malouda played the role of assist in Delhi’s first goal in the 15th minute as he won the ball from Chennaiyin’s Siam Hanghal. He then made his way towards the Chennaiyin box and unleashed a right-footer. Goalkeeper Karanjit Singh parried it away but there was Gadze to smash the ball on the rebound into an open net.
Ten minutes later, it was the turn of Malouda to make it 2-0 for Delhi and this time Gadze was the supplier. Malouda sent a low and curling left-footer which beat a diving Chennaiyin goalkeeper.
Press Trust of India
