I-League champions Mohun Bagan went down 6-0 to Chinese side Shandong Luneng in their second preliminary round match of the 2016 AFC Champions League at the Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Jinan on Tuesday.
Walter Montillo opened the scoring for the hosts in the 23rd minute, and following that goal, there were plenty more to come from the Chinese Super League side. Diego Tardelli (40), Yang Xu (55, 68), Zheng Zheng (76) and Yongpo Wang (88) all contributed in the demolition job against Mohun Bagan.
Bagan defeated well-known Singapore outfit Tampines Rovers last Wednesday with a 3-1 result in the first qualifying round of the 2016 AFC Champions League. Sanjoy Sen's side then made an away trip to Pune to play DSK Shivajians just three days later in the I-League, and there too, Mohun Bagan recorded a 2-0 win.
The gesture by the DSK Shivajians officials of escorting the Mohun Bagan team on ten Toyota Innova's along with a police escort, to reach the airport on time for the AFC Champions League game, was also lauded by the Mariners.
However, did fatigue really play a factor in their game today? Sanjoy Sen thinks so, as he launched a scathing attack on the AIFF for not rescheduling their I-League fixture last weekend.
In today's match, star striker Cornell Glen was also unavailable for Mohun Bagan owing to some immigration issues. "Cornell Glenn was not allowed to go to China. Had to return from immigration desk of Mumbai Airport. He is a loan player from Lajong," well-known Kolkata sports journalist Rupayan Bhattacharya wrote on his twitter account.
"In his visa, it's mentioned that he is a Lajong player. Glenn is going to Shillong to change it. V difficult for him to join the team."
