Chennaiyin, Goa look for early advantage

The great rivals were all-square in the league stage as FC Goa scored a stunning 3-2 victory in its opening match in Chennai, scoring three goals in the first 45 minutes, while Chennaiyin FC fought back and levelled things out with a 1-0 victory in Goa. 

The teams face each other knowing there has never been a draw between them.  In the nine matches the two sides have played, Goa won four and Chennaiyin five, including the famous final in 2015. 

A total of 35 goals have been scored in these encounters and if Goa’s head coach Sergio Lobera stays true to his style, then there will certainly be lots more entertainment. 

Chennaiyin enters the game on a patchy run of just two wins in its last five games, but is statistically one of the soundest travelling teams this season. It has the most number of clean sheets in total (7) and has conceded the least amount of shots away from home (78). 

Its goals are also spread across the team over 11 players, unlike Goa, which is heavily reliant on Ferran Corominas and Manuel Lanzarote in that department (18 of the 22 home goals Goa has scored have come from these two players). 

“It wasn’t accidental that we finished second in the table. We have won in Goa and in Pune — but we also lost in the Northeast. The trend is that we tend to win the big must-win games. 

We’ve earned the right to come into the playoffs and now suddenly we start from scratch — and it’s purely a semi-final and final and we’re ready for it,” said CFC coach John Gregory.