Premier Futsal: Bengaluru Royals thrash Kerala Cobras 4-0

Mumbai: Bengaluru Royals outclassed Kerala Cobras 4-0 in a one-sided affair in the second edition of the Premier Futsal here Saturday night with their skipper and Manchester United legend Paul Scholes scored one of the goals.

The goals for the winning team came in the 13th, 32nd 38th and 40th minute, respectively, as Spaniard Michael Salgado led Kerala side tasted their first defeat.

In the first quarter, though Bengaluru was the more aggressive side, Kerala have could taken the lead but their skipper Spaniard Michael Salgado hit above the bar. A minute later, the Kerala side missed another chance when one of their strikers hit wide. Salgado was in full flow but he missed another hit which went above the bar.

Bengaluru had too their chances but two wide hits from Medeiros Gomes Petterson denied them a chance to take the lead. The first quarter ended remained goal-less.

But it was in the 13th minute, on a counter attack, Bengaluru managed to take the lead as Jonathan Da Silva netted the ball inside the goal past on a pass from his name sake and teammate Jonathan. Kerala tried to equalise on two occasions, but could not as the Bengaluru defence and their custodian Hamlan Al Hamlan did their jobs to perfection. At the half way mark, Bengaluru Royals were 1-0 up.

Two minutes after the break, Keralas Mattias Raphael dribbled all along and hit but a brilliant saved from Ramesh Abhishek ensured that his sides lead was maintained.

In the 26th minute, it was again Petterson who mistimed his shot, denying Bengaluru to extend the lead. After the 3rd quarter, Bengaluru still lead 1-0.

It was the fourth and the final quarter, which saw Bengaluru scoring three goals. In the 32th minute, Grasso Renzo ran in after a pass and netted the ball into the left of the goal post to extend the Bengalurus lead to 2-0. With two minutes to go for the final whistle, Scholes showed why he is the best across the globe, as his long shot from almost another end, went straight into the goal post, making it 3-0.

In the dying minutes of the game, Kochis defence was once again exploited when Jonathan easily netter the ball to seal the teams victory 4-0.

In the second game of the day, a brace from Gonzalez Luis helped Telgu Tigers defeat Chennai Singhams 3-1 with other goal coming from Mauro Canal in the 10th minute. In the dying minutes of the match, Angel Claudino scored for the Chennai team but that helped only to reduce their defeat margin.