Capacity crowd hails Kerala Blasters win
The famous Kochi crowd backed their team with loud cheers
Kochi: Kerala bade farewell to this year’s Indian Super League in an emphatic fashion by thrashing Chennayin FC by a margin of three goals.
As expected, the turnout crossed the 60,000-mark touching 60,900, the highest recorded in the first edition of ISL.
It looked like Kerala Blasters reserved their best-ever performance for the last outing and they thoroughly entertained the crowd.
Adding to the joy, local boy Sushanth Mathew scored a left foot stunner from 25 yards to finish the match in style, one of the best moments of the league.
The players showed the spirit and energy right from the word go at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium. The famous Kochi crowd backed their team with loud cheers.
Though the Blasters had promised a major star turnout, Sachin Tendulkar, who is also the owner of the Blasters franchise, was accompanied by cricketers Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.
Abhsihek Bachhan, the owner of Chennayin FC, wore a desperate look throughout the match thanks to the goals from Blasters.
Ministers Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and K. Babu also turned up to watch the match.
After the match, Sachin thanked Kochi and the fans for the massive turnout for all the ISL matches in Kochi.
Football fans from across the state had reached the ground by afternoon and before 5 p.m., the stadium was filled.
The turnout surpassed the record set by the Kolkata crowd in the opening ceremony of the league. The second leg of the semifinals would be played in Chennai on Tuesday.