New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Although Mumbai City FC captain Lallianzuala Chhangte was not in the best goal-scoring form during the 2024-25 ISL campaign, striker Nikos Karelis believes the skipper has a massive impact on the team and played a huge role in lifting the team.
In 24 ISL games this season, including playoffs, Chhangte found the back of the net six times whilst also providing three assists. A solid season no doubt but not up to the level of standards set by the 27-year-old in preceding years. However, he stepped up brilliantly to score a brace to defeat Chennaiyin FC 4-0 in the Round of 16 of the Kalinga Super Cup 2025.
In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Nikos stated the team would not have been where they are without Chhangte’s contributions on and off the pitch.
“Chhangte is really important for us. He’s a very good player. He’s our captain. He has the quality. He has the confidence. He has the experience. He has everything in the package to help us. I don’t agree that he didn’t start well for us. He did his job, he did everything he could to get us where we are here. If you don’t have the numbers, it doesn’t mean that you don’t contribute to the team.
“He is contributing a lot, especially inside and outside of the pitch. So it helped us a lot and as the season was going, you can see that also with the assists and the goals, he contributed a lot to our position where we need to be,” Nikos told IANS.
Nikos joined Mumbai City ahead of the 2024-25 ISL season and has adapted brilliantly to Indian conditions. In a season where Mumbai’s attack was unable to consistently find the back of the net, having scored only 29 goals in 24 games, Nikos was firing on full cylinders and scored more than one third of their season tally with 10 goals to his name.
However, the 33-year-old admitted the fact that he only scored one of their four goals against Chennai, with Chhangte grabbing two and Bipin Singh adding a 90th minute dagger are positive signs for the club and hopes the team continues scoring more goals through the Super Cup.
“It’s important for the team to have many goal scorers, let’s say because maybe one time you go, you have chances, it’s a bad day. But when other players also contribute in the scoring, it’s better for the team. It’s very nice.
“But this comes through the hard work that we have and through the confidence of the players. And all together, we’re trying our best every time. Ok, maybe we didn’t score so much this year or this season but we know what to do,” he added.
–IANS
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