Fast forward to Saturday, a couple of days before the match. Only around 30,000 tickets of the available 38,000-odd have been sold. Quite a few of those who have purchased those higher range (and even the base range) tickets are looking to sell them. Fans who booked tickets from different parts of the country are still contemplating whether making the trip is worth it.
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And there’s only one reason for this change of heart — Neymar suffering an injury and being ruled out of the tie.
The 31-year-old had to be taken off on a stretcher during the first half of Brazil’s 2-0 loss against Uruguay in Montevideo last month with Brazil confirming on Thursday that he underwent a surgery on his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus in his left knee.
The Saudi Pro League grabbed all the footballing headlines this summer with their high-profile signings, starting with five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. While it was not overtly shocking to see the 38-year-old Portuguese, who had fallen out with Manchester United and was without a club, join Saudi club Al-Nassr FC, Neymar’s transfer really rocked the footballing world.
Neymar, who in September broke Pele’s record to become Brazil’s highest goalscorer, was lured away from PSG, where he hadn’t really been able to settle in.
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Apart from Ronaldo and Neymar, Saudi clubs also signed the likes of Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, and Sadio Mane among others, and so Indian football fans were anxiously awaiting the ACL draw which was held in August, to know which international stars would travel to Mumbai. And when Mumbai City FC were drawn in the same group as Neymar’s Al Hilal, the frenzy began.
Mumbai City FC’s CEO Kandarp Chandra, told The Indian Express in an exclusive interaction that the demand for tickets was unrealistic. “Whether it was tickets we had to give out to our partners or sponsors, everyone wanted to watch the best in the world come and play here. The demands were unrealistic,” he said.
‘Home venue’
The first challenge that Mumbai City faced was settling on a stadium to play their ACL home games. The stadium where they play their Indian Super League (ISL) games – the Mumbai Football Arena – doesn’t meet AFC standards and so they can’t host their matches there.
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“We wanted to play in Mumbai and we wanted to play in Andheri Sports Complex. This is our home ground, this is where we qualified for the AFC and so we wanted to play here. I know it’s just a small stadium but we wanted to play at our home ground. However, we as a club couldn’t do anything temporary to make that happen,” Chandra said.
Mumbai then decided to book the Balewadi Stadium in Pune to play their home games. The only issue was that the seating of the stadium was just around 10,000 and judging by the huge demand for tickets for the Al Hilal match, it was bound to get out of control.
Mumbai then changed their plans and decided to host only the Al Hilal game at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, which is essentially a cricket ground but has hosted the U-17 FIFA World Cup (men’s and women’s) as well as the women’s AFC Championship in the past. Fans were a bit relieved too since about 38,000 tickets were expected to be put on sale.
“Look, we didn’t want to hoard tickets. We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to witness world class competitive football in India. And they are the best in Asia,” said Chandra, explaining one of the reasons why they decided to switch venues.
The tickets were put on sale on October 12 to those who pre-registered and the seats at the higher end of the spectrum were sold out almost immediately. The sale of base-price tickets (Rs1499), given the huge availability of them, was much slower, but the club were expecting it to be sold out come match day.
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It must be said that Rs 1499 is one of the highest base-price ticket costs for football in Mumbai. The club’s ISL tickets start at Rs 199 with the most expensive being Rs 2499. The highest range of tickets for the Al-Hilal match are Rs 4499 and that’s not including the VIP and hospitality tickets.
Five days after the tickets were put on sale however, Neymar got injured and fans who booked tickets were left devastated, with many of them immediately trying to sell off their tickets. Never mind that Al Hilal still have one of the most impressive squads in Asia. Never mind that they are playing some immaculate football. No Neymar meant that the match lost its shine and fans were demanding a refund.
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“We didn’t sell the Neymar dream to people. They created the hype on their own. We were constantly saying it was Al Hilal vs Mumbai City FC.
“Also, not once did we say that if you buy a hospitality ticket you would get to meet the players. Heard that rumour too,” says Chandra, who says it so nonchalantly that it’s difficult to understand if he’s unhappy or relieved that Neymar isn’t coming.
No Neymar, so what?
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If you happened to watch Mumbai City’s 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Al Hilal in the away fixture last month, you would know whom to watch out for on Monday — Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serbian former Newcastle and Fulham player scored a sensational hat-trick with his third goal being a stunning overhead bicycle kick.
Apart from Mitrovic there’s his international teammate Sergej Milinkovic-Savic whose crafty attacking play can be captivating.
Those who like defending can look no further than Kalidou Koulibaly. The Senegalese joined from Chelsea this summer and has been a rock in the defence for Al Hilal. He’s been one of the main reasons the Saudi Arabian giants have managed a clean sheet in eight of their last nine competitive games.
While there’s also Portuguese international Reuben Neves, one should surely keep an eye out for Salem Al-Dawsari. The somersaulting Saudi Arabian striker’s heroic efforts lead his team to a famous win over Argentina in their opening game of the Qatar 2022 World Cup – and only a couple of days ago was named the AFC Asian Player of the Year.
While there’s clearly no dearth of talent in the Al-Hilal squad, nobody comes close to the stature and eccentricity of Neymar. Though he isn’t coming, it won’t be surprising to see his name on the backs of fans that will make it to the DY Patil Stadium on Monday, be it decked in Brazil, Barcelona, PSG or Al Hilal colours.
Mumbai City, on their side, will hope the absence of Neymar will give them a much-needed boost in their ACL campaign which is in shambles at the moment. They’ve lost all three of their matches so far and would want to at least get a point against Al Hilal. The fact that they’ve never played at DY Patil before will not necessarily work in their favour.
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Despite their efforts to accommodate fans for this match, with Neymar and Brazil faithful expected to throng the venue, Mumbai City FC might just feel they’re playing away from home.
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