The group stages of the UEFA Champions League will finally see its culmination in this midweek, giving us the final 16 teams who will progress to the knockout stage of the competition. On the Indian shores, the Indian Super League (ISL) will enter its matchday eight after a plethora of high-octane action over the past few gameweeks.

Among biggest fixtures this week, we’ll see Inter Milan host the Catalan giants, Barcelona while Jose Mourinho�?Tottenham will travel to Munich where the Bavarians, Bayern Munich will be hoping for a similar result like last time, which although seems unlikely under the tutelage of the Portuguese manager.

In a battle of the heavyweights in ISL over the upcoming weekend, FC Goa will go against a ravishing ATK where the Fijian international, Roy Krishna seems to be proving invaluable for the team from Bengal. The fantasy managers of Nostragamus have a long and tedious week ahead. Sit back while we handpick the players that will make your journey rewarding this week.

DELE ALLI

Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Match: Bayern Munich vs Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham’s number 20 has been enjoying life under the watchful eyes of Mourinho. The fans have been witnessing a ‘Renaissance�?as far as Dele Alli is concerned, with the 23-year-old scoring four goals in five games with three invaluable assists.

Absolutely filthy @dele_official #COYS pic.twitter.com/WYNxxTjD9O

�?Talking THFC (@TalkingTHFC) December 4, 2019

The attacking midfielder’s best performance came against Bournemouth at home when he scored two goals, posted a 100% take-on success rate and made eight successful recoveries during the match. Mourinho is smiling from the dugout and so are we because the new manager might have just unleashed a sleeping giant and it may well be his time to shine in the Champions League against Bayern.

Read | Twitter in disbelief as Manchester United beat Mourinho’s Tottenham

SERGIO CASTEL

Club: Jamshedpur FC 

Match: Kerala Blasters vs Jamshedpur FC

The Spaniard’s debut season with Jamshedpur FC in ISL 2019-20 campaign has been a delight to watch. Having scored five goals in his six appearances so far, Sergio Castel’s tenure on loan from Atletico Madrid is proving fruitful. An ambitious number nine, Castel’s consistency is what is keeping him going toe to toe with veterans like Sunil Chhetri and Roy Krishna.

Read | Jamshedpur FC’s Sergio Castel roaring his way to the top in the ISL

Castel has been an epitome of high work rate as well, making a total of nine crucial tackles with a decent passing accuracy of 48.38%. The Spanish forward is surely one who will be making headway for the Golden Boot this season.

LAUTARO MARTINEZ 

Club: Inter Milan

Match: Inter Milan v Barcelona

One of European football’s hottest emerging property now is the Argentinian forward, Lautaro Martinez. The forward has scored five goals in his last five Champions League outings and has paired up wonderfully with Romelu Lukaku upfront. The duo has now registered eight-plus goals after 15 Serie A matches as well and are running riot both in Italy and Europe.

Lautaro Martinez - simply unstoppable in recent months:

vs Sampdoria �?br /> vs Barcelona ⚽️
vs Juventus ⚽️
vs Sassuolo ⚽️⚽️
vs BVB ⚽️
vs Parma �?br /> vs Brescia ⚽️
vs Bologna �?br /> vs BVB ⚽️
vs Verona �?br /> vs Torino ⚽️
vs Slavia ⚽️⚽️
vs SPAL ⚽️⚽️

One of the best strikers in the world. pic.twitter.com/P9boEN6Z2K

�?FootballTalentScout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) December 1, 2019

The 22-year-old’s ascent has been duly noticed by Spanish giants Barcelona and an upcoming encounter against the Catalan giants might just be his biggest test till date and given his form, expect a goal or two from the Argentinian.

ROY KRISHNA

Club: ATK 

Match: FC Goa vs ATK 

ISL’s most prized possession this season has been ATK’s, Roy Krishna. The prolific striker is leading the charts with six goals in seven appearances in the 2019-2020 edition. Krishna was awarded the ISL ‘Hero of the month�?award for the month of November for scoring three goals in three games, making him the most successful striker in ISL this season so far.

Congratulations Roy Krishna for winning the Hero of the Month award, November 2019!#AamarBukeyATK pic.twitter.com/lwUXq1v5RE

�?ATK is in my DNA (@atk_dna) December 4, 2019

The Fijian international has also found solace in his attacking partnership with David Williams who seems to be relishing his playing time with the Fijian. With Goa up next, he will aim to extend his impeccable goal scoring form.

Read: The Roy Krishna story: From Fiji via New Zealand to India

AMINE CHERMITI

Club: Mumbai City FC

Match: Bengaluru FC vs Mumbai City FC 

The Tunisian striker, Amine Chermiti was up and running over the weekend against Kerala Blasters as he smashed an equalizer and rescued a point for his team. The experience seems to be playing off lately as the 31-year-old has made tremendous progress, having scored four goals in his seven appearances and has emerged as Mumbai City’s saving grace in the past few games.

Read | Amine Chermiti’s experience a key element in Mumbai City FC’s surge

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Oli Scarff

The Indian Super League saw action after a two-week gap for the international break and it was a scintillating watch. While it was not particularly a week filled with goals, only nine were scored in five games, some of them were off the top drawer as the scorers displayed incredible skill and improvisation to pull it off.

We take you through four of the best goals in gameweek five of the ISL:

SUNIL CHHETRI

Club: Bengaluru FC

Against: Kerala Blasters FC

As the commentator said when Chhetri scored the goal, the man needs no introduction. The captain of the Indian football team has been an inspirational figure since his debut in 2007 and this week in the ISL, he pulled off a great training ground move, though it was helped by some lackluster defending from Kerala Blasters.

Bengaluru won a corner early in the second half and Spaniard Dimas Delgado swung in a great ball into the centre of the box. Chhetri, who had stayed out of the D, ran in fully unmarked and timed his dive perfectly to head the ball into the far corner and out of the reach of the goalkeeper, all while avoiding a potentially nasty hit on the head from a desperate, last-minute stray tackle.

The goal showed Chhetri’s commitment to the cause, and most importantly, gave Bengaluru a narrow 1-0 victory in the south-Indian derby.

PANAGIOTIS TRIADIS

Club: NorthEast United FC

Against: Mumbai City FC

Last night’s game provided the thrilling goals football fans would have craved for and there were three of them. The first of those was scored by Greek winger, Triadis. He was gifted the ball on the left-wing and cut onto his right immediately, creating some space to get his shot away.

He already knew what he wanted to do and once the space opened up, Triadis let fly with his right foot, and the contact he made was sweet and powerful that the ball kept swerving away from Amrinder in the Mumbai City goal and nestled itself in the right-hand side corner, giving NorthEast the lead in spectacular fashion.

Read | How Mumbai City FC midfielders kept NorthEast United on toe

AMINE CHERMITI

Club: Mumbai City FC

Against: NorthEast United FC

Mumbai were reeling from Triadis�?early strike but they equalized in the 23rd minute as Tunisian, Amine Chermiti finished off a slick team move to tap home from a few yards out. But it was his second goal that deserved the plaudits.

Mumbai City grew into the game after that and took the lead nine minutes later. They won a free-kick just after the half-way line and Paulo Machado’s poor effort somehow made it as far as Chermiti, who improvised beautifully.

With his back to the goal, the striker quickly read the bounce and twisted his body to make contact at just the right time and send it past the keeper. It may not have looked all that great at first sight but the brilliant reflexes and presence of mind to divert the ball was indicative of his quality.

ASAMOAH GYAN

Club: NorthEast United FC

Against Mumbai City FC

This goal was another example of exemplary presence of mind and quality. Asamoah Gyan in his debut season in the ISL has already scored three goals in three games and this effort will probably be underrated.

Mumbai gave the ball away in the middle of the park and Martin Chaves quickly passed it upfront to the ever-aware Gyan. He took a couple of touches to keep it in his stride, and then jinked left to draw both centre-backs toward him.

Gyan did not take the shot but instead jinked right to his favourable foot, making some space in the process and rifled one into the top-left corner of the net with precision, leaving neither the defenders nor the keeper with any chance to equalize for NorthEast.

You can check out the three aforementioned goals here:

Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @MumbaiCityFC

Settling in the role of a centre forward for Jorge Costa’s Mumbai City FC, Tunisian striker Amine Chermiti is enjoying his early days in the Indian Super League.

With an ample of experience gathered over a glittering career in Europe and Africa, Chermiti propelled Mumbai to a 1-0 victory over Kerala Blasters in their opening match. Signing up with the franchise in the 2019-20 season, the 31-year-old has been showering praise over the professional state of affairs in the league and has compared ISL to leagues across Europe. 

Chermiti’s presence in the Mumbai squad is yet another sign of a masterstroke from Costa who has been pivotal in introducing Mumbai City to the innate talent of foreign players.

Mumbai have always fielded a plethora of foreign strikers ranging from Diego Forlan to Nicolas Anelka and Chermiti seems to be following suit in the footsteps of these great football players. His partnership with Moudou Sougou in the initial stages of the ongoing season has been a huge relief for Costa.

Read | Mumbai City FC: Gunning for glory with a new look team

Taking his first steps towards a better career with the Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel in 2006, Chermiti played an instrumental role in securing the African Champions League title for Etoile in 2007. The clinical striker starred in the tournament by netting eight goals which included a winning goal in a two-legged final against the Egyptian club Al Ahly. For his match-winning performances, Chermiti was also felicitated with the CAF African-based Player of the Year award in 2007.

ISLANDERS! Say hello to your new number 9�?

Welcome to Mumbai, Amine Chermiti! #ApunKaTeam pic.twitter.com/CYzYozhEJu

�?Mumbai City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) August 9, 2019

His triumphant exploits in his home nation paved the way for offers from Europe. Lucien Favre, the current manager of Borussia Dortmund, brought him over to Germany and Chermiti ended up signing for Hertha Berlin in 2008. Although, the hype was only short-lived as two injury-prone seasons saw him make his move to FC Zurich in 2010.

It was however in Switzerland that Chermiti cranked it up a notch and became an instrumental part of the club, scoring 30 goals in his 110 appearances. During his five years in Zurich, Chermiti played in the UEFA Europa League, gaining widespread experience of going toe to toe with some of the world’s best.    

Read | Four high-profile foreign players to have donned Mumbai City FC shirt

After leaving Zurich in 2015, Chermiti also had the privilege of playing in the domestic leagues of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Having a player with the experience of playing in multiple leagues across the globe is precisely what Mumbai City have been searching for. After his debut match in the ISL against Kerala, Chermiti expressed his happiness with the squad and his intent of lifting the title with Mumbai.

“Every match is like a cup game. We must give our best to win all three points.�?This post-match statement by the Tunisian will ring across the upper echelons of the ISL as it surely abides by Jorge Costa’s policy of hitting back whenever your team is down and out. Let’s hope there are goals aplenty from the foot of Chermiti in the ISL.

Read | Paulo Machado: A mean-machine of Mumbai City FC’s apparatus

Feature image courtesy: AFP/ Fabrice Coffrini

Unlike the previous years, the Hero Indian Super League teams have been quite insightful in terms of transfers this season. The franchises have opted for smart signings rather than going for marquee ones.

And this approach has made the league all the more interesting. Of course, there are several other reasons to be excited for the sixth edition of the tournament but these five players will give you an additional incentive:

1. Sergio Castel (Jamshedpur FC)

Jamshedpur FC have acquired some of the best young talents for the 2019/20 season. And amongst the lot is a certain 24-year-old loanee from the Atletico Madrid B team, Sergio Castel. Castel, who spent his early years with Barcelona-based side UE Rubi, has taken to the league like a fish to water, even scoring the winner during his team’s 2-1 win over Odisha FC in the league opener.

Castel is expected to lead the line for his team this season and a lot will depend on how he performs.

Read | Five Indian youngsters to watch for in ISL this season

2. Bartholomew Ogbeche (Kerala Blasters)

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker has been a revelation in the league since making his debut with NorthEast United in 2018. Riding on the back of his sensational performances, NorthEast reached the semi-finals for the first time in their history.

And the 35-year-old Nigerian followed his coach Eelco Schattorie as he switched alliances to the Kerala Blasters. His experience of playing at the top level proved handy on October 20, as he scored a brace to help Kerala to a 2-1 victory over ATK.

3. Asamoah Gyan (NorthEast United)

Gyan brings along a wealth of experience to the relatively young Indian Super League. Having represented the likes of Udinese, Rennes and Sunderland in the past, the 33-year-old Ghanaian promises goals, goals and more goals; something NorthEast would have missed with Ogbeche’s departure to Kerala.

A striker with a potent eye for goal, expect him to haunt defenders as the season progresses.

Read | Why Bengaluru FC won’t retain their ISL crown this season

4. Roy Krishna (ATK)

The captain of Fiji national team, Roy Krishna turned a lot of heads as soon as his signing was announced by ATK. The 32-year-old striker has spent his entire career playing in either New Zealand’s domestic league or Australia’s A-League.

A newcomer to the country, Krishna will lead the charge this season and will be in hunt for the golden boot against the likes of Sunil Chhetri and others.

5. Amine Chermiti (Mumbai City FC)

Tunisia’s Amine Chermiti has taken no time in asserting his authority in the league, having scored the winner during Mumbai City FC’s 1-0 won over Kerala Blasters on Thursday. Just like a few of the aforementioned names, the 31-year-old has represented some of the best European clubs during his career.

In a team which retained the likes of Modou Sougou and Paulo Machado, expect Chermiti to wreak havoc this season.

Read | Why this year’s ISL will be the biggest ever in history

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar