Chennaiyin FC surprised everyone when they unleashed their new foreign star Abdenasser El Khayati in the Indian Super League. The Dutch-Moroccan instantly became a hit in his debut season with his exceptional skills on the field.
Starting from his silky dribbles past defenders at will to his outrageous skills to come out of a tight space with the ball at his feet. Many people were fans of El Khayati’s style of play as he had that flair.
Despite being injured and missing many games, El Khayati finished with nine goals and provided five assists across the season. He was one of the primary reasons that Chennaiyin were an exceptional attacking team. He controlled the final third and tried to capitalize at every chance that he got. Chennaiyin finished 36 goals scored this season, joint second highest along with Hyderabad FC and FC Goa.
El Khayati believes that it is good to score goals but also important to not concede too many. “I think that’s very positive that we scored a lot of goals. The only thing is you have to concede lesser and continue the same regarding the scoring,” He said in an interview with Sportstar.
The Dutch-Moroccan was injured for many parts of the season and that affected Chennaiyin FC majorly. They lost 11 points from the winning position. El Khayati shared that he joined the team late and did not get much time to do pre-season training and hence, the injuries hampered his season dearly.
“I joined in October when the team was already three months into pre-season (training). That is where you get the platform, you get physically strong. I try to be as fit as possible, which I am now, because I’m training and doing everything that I’m well prepared for,” he added.
Currently, he is focused on the upcoming Super Cup as Chennaiyin FC are already in Kerala. The Marina Machans are in group D in the cup tournament alongside teams like Mumbai City FC, NorthEast United and I-League outfit Churchill Brothers. They will start their campaign against NorthEast United on April 11.
El Khayati shares that the cup is more different than the league and they are prepared to win the tournament. He highlights that the cup is more fast paced and a team only gets a game or two to improve on their weakness, unlike the league.
“We have a good chance to do well and even win. The good thing about the Super Cup is the momentum. It’s just one game, just 90 minutes. It’s another pressure, it’s another type of game. It’s not like in the league where you can still do your strategy and tactical stuff and wait for the next week to improve. There is no time for that now. We have 90-95 minutes to win the game, and that’s it,” the 34-year-old concluded.
It will be interesting to see the flashy attacking midfielder do his things in the Super Cup. While it becomes important for Chennaiyin FC aswell to raise the bar of the competition after a pretty lacklustre ISL campaign.
