Former France and Chelsea star Florent Malouda scored twice, inspiring Delhi Dynamos to a 4-1 drubbing of defending champions Chennaiyin FC in an Indian Super League football match in New Delhi on Wednesday.
36-year-old Malouda, leading the Delhi side, continued his impressive performance as he struck the home side's second and the fourth goal in the 25th and 85th minutes respectively while he made the assists in the other goals scored by Richard Gadze (15th) and Kean Lewis (54th) in front of 15,000-odd crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. It was also the first time Malouda scored this season.
Chennaiyin captain Bernard Mendy scored his side's lone goal in the 37th minute.
With the win, their third on the trot and fourth overall, Delhi now have 16 points from nine matches and they dislodged Mumbai City FC (15 points from nine matches) from the top spot to strengthen their chances for a last four berth.
Delhi had also beaten Chennaiyin 3-1 in the first leg in Chennai on October 6.
For Chennaiyin, whose coach Marco Materazzi made as many five changes from their last match playing eleven, this was their second loss in the tournament and first in an away match this season. They seemed to miss the inspiring presence of former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise at the deep defence. Riise, who was recovering from an injury, came in the 83rd minute but by that time, the game was as good as over.
After Wednesday’s loss, Chennaiyin are at sixth in the table with 10 points from eight matches.
