ISL 2022-23: "It was a message for the whole world" - Chennaiyin FC head coach Thomas Brdaric on Vafa Hakhamaneshi's celebration after scoring against East Bengal

In the 69th minute of a cagey affair between East Bengal and Chennaiyin FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Friday, November 4, Vafa Hakhamaneshi rose the highest to stab home an Akash Sangwan corner.

The Iranian defender raced to the sidelines and unveiled his undershirt with the message - "Women, Life, Freedom".

The message was in solidarity with anti-regime protests in Iran in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old girl was allegedly taken into custody for not wearing a hijab in accordance with government standards.

Amini's family has reportedly claimed that she was dealt a fatal blow in police custody, which ultimately led to her death.

Vafa was shown a second yellow for taking off his shirt during the celebration and had to leave the pitch early.

Chennaiyin head coach Thomas Brdaric reflected on the incident and the resulting red card in the post-match conference, saying:

"The ISL has rules and obviously the referee can't close their eyes in such situations. But maybe we had luck. It was a message for the whole world. What he did was for the people of his own country.

"It's very disappointing what happens there and I hope maybe the federation and the ISL close their eyes, switch on their heads, and tolerate the situation."

Meanwhile, the Marina Machans emerged victorious in the closely-contested contest. The visitors did well to negate the attacking threats from East Bengal and came away with three points.

Earlier in the season, Brdaric's men also registered a victory against ATK Mohun Bagan in Kolkata. Speaking about Friday night's performance, the German tactician said:

"These kinds of results happen when you're concentrated and focused on killing the opponent. It was a nice goal and Akash did very well with the corner. Vafa finished well but unfortunately, he'll miss the next game."

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"Childish mistakes cost us the game" - East Bengal boss Stephen Constantine after the defeat against Chennaiyin FC

Stephen Constantine's side had two golden opportunities to pull ahead in the first half. However, Cleiton Silva and Suhair VP squandered those chances. The Red and Gold Brigade looked completely out of depth in the second 45 as Vafa scored from a corner.

Speaking about East Bengal's second consecutive loss, Constantine said:

"I'm not going to make any excuses. We had two or three chances, one-on-one with the keeper, but we didn't put the ball in. If we had scored one of those, we could've gone into half-time with a 1-0 scoreline. It's a different game. We need to take care in front of the goal.

"In the second half we weren't very good and they scored a cheap goal from a corner. We shouldn't have conceded that goal. They had a player sent off and we had an advantage. But then we had a player sent off. Childish mistakes cost us the game."

East Bengal will next face Bengaluru FC on November 11. The Kolkata giants are currently 10th in the standings with just three points from five games. As things stand, the near future looks grim for the Red and Gold Brigade.

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