Haven't taken a day off since 5-0 drubbing to Bengaluru: Lallianzuala Chhangte

Mumbai: Lallianzuala Chhangte was not someone you were expecting to run into in the press box at DY Patil Stadium on April 6. Much as the Mumbai City captain, accompanied by a couple of teammates, enjoyed watching Luis Figo, Xavi, Carles Puyol and several other former Barcelona and Real Madrid stars roll back the years in an El Clasico legends exhibition game that evening, he would surely have preferred being at Fatorda, battling FC Goa in the ISL semifinal return leg.

Bengaluru FC made sure he didn’t have that possibility. Just the week prior, in the first knockout game of the ISL playoffs, Chhangte’s Mumbai City were dealt a 5-0 drubbing by the Blues, bringing what had already been a dismal campaign to a crushing end. For the Mizoram-born forward, it was a bitter finish to his first ISL season as Islanders captain. But you expected to see a response from a team who have twice been ISL champions in the last five years, and respond they have. The ongoing Kalinga Super Cup in Bhubaneswar has seen Petr Kratky’s side sweep aside Chennaiyin beforeedging past a plucky Inter Kashi to reach the semifinals where they play Jamshedpur on Wednesday.

Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.

Picking themselves up from that humbling night at Kanteerava Stadium would have been anything but a straightforward task, but there was no time to lose. “Every setback is a lesson that shapes our character which has shown in the Super Cup,” Chhangte told TOI on Tuesday. “The defeat against Bengaluru was hard and from the next morning, we haven’t had a day off until our first match against Chennaiyin.”

Who's that IPL player?

That next game will easily be Mumbai’s biggest test of the knockout tournament yet, against a team who beat them in both ISL meetings this season. “They are one of the most physical teams and they could hurt you. We all know what happened in the league, but this is a different cup,” Chhangte said.

With three goals and an assist to his name, the 27-year-old’s own form is undoubtedly a boost for the Islanders. “I just have to give a good example for my team, be a leader on and off the pitch, set an example, especially when my team needs me most,” Chhangte said.

He added: “It’s a privilege to be the captain of one of the best clubs in India. But it’s always in me that I just want to set an example every single day.”