AGENCIES
CHENNAI
Premier Futsal’s second day of action saw Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai bear the look of a mini-Old Trafford as the prospect of seeing both Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in action was a bit too much for Manchester United supporters to pass up.
In fact, the Manchester United supporters club in Chennai had even brought along banners welcoming their beloved legends to Chennai. First up was the tie between Giggs’ Mumbai 5s up against former Galactico Michel Salgado’s Kochi 5s. While Mumbai were already three points to the good thanks to their win against Chennai on the first match day, this was Kochi’s first outing of the tournament.
Just as those in attendance would have it, the game had Giggs’ involvement all over it. From hitting the woodwork early on to tripping Salgado and then falsely accusing of taking a tumble, ol’ Giggsy was grabbing all the eyeballs. In fact, the former United assistant manager had a hand in both of the game’s first two goals, as his needless foul on Salgado led to the penalty from which Kochi took the lead, before making a ‘hockey assist’ for his side’s equaliser.
The game saw a lot of boos coming Salgado’s way for his absolutely criminal act of being fouled by Ryan Giggs in the eyes of those clad in red in attendance. And the players also weren’t letting it go, making this the first time two legends of the game, and designated marquees were badmouthing each other. They might have retired but Manchester United and Real Madrid legends having an on-pitch tiff was just headline stuff.
But the Real Madrid man had the last laugh as his side went three up in the second half to basically wrap the game up, including a beauty from Salgado where he rounded Giggs up and then the keeper before slotting it into the empty net, making it 4-1 for Kochi.
The second game played between Bengaluru 5s and Kolkata 5s, bringing on the pitch the second Manchester United in action on the night - Paul Scholes, up against former Argentina forward Hernan Crespo.
The first half saw either side score a goal thanks to goalkeeping blunders, but the two marquees were having a quiet outing. Quiet however, would not be the word you’d use to describe the fans in the stands as they went up in chants of ‘Bring on Scholesy’ as he was on the bench taking a breather from the fast paced action.
Scholes came close to scoring towards the tail end of the match, however the Manchester United legend saw his effort palmed away by the Kolkata goalkeeper. But the game saw no more notable action, as the United fans went home with no wins for their legends, but still saw them off to chants of “thank you Scholesy” and “thank you Giggsy”.
