It was the best evening of his young professional career until that point, till darkness enveloped as he blacked out. Mumbai City FC defender Amey Ranawade suffered a head injury that led to a concussion in the Indian Super League final against ATK Mohun Bagan in Goa on March 13.
The second half of the game, and the rest of the night were a blank. They still are. The next morning brought glad tidings as the 23-year-old woke up—his team had won the title. But not in his wildest dreams would he have expected a personal message from Pep Guardiola!
The drama had unfolded late in the first half when Ranawade and ATK Mohun Bagan’s Subhasish Bose clashed heads going for the ball near the touchline. Ranawade lay still for over five minutes, and when he tried to get up, fell again. He was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated overnight for concussion.
The morning after his team won its maiden ISL title, Ranawade woke up to a flood of messages from family, friends, team-mates, well-wishers. And the Manchester City manager.
“Matlab, kya bolu mein (I mean, what can I say)? I don’t think I ever dreamt about something like this,” Ranawade said. “Being an Indian footballer, I don’t think anyone can even think of getting a message from Pep personally. To see that the morning after a night like that was magical.”
It was a video message from Guardiola, delivered to him via officials of the City Football Group—the parent group of Manchester City and Mumbai City—who were with the Mumbai squad in the ISL bubble.
“Amey, I’m Pep,” Guardiola says in the video. “First of all, congratulations for the league—well deserved. I heard that you’re having a concussion and you’re in hospital. Hopefully, you can recover as soon as possible, you can get back home and celebrate this victory with your family, friends and teammates. Stay safe, stay well and I wish you all the best.”
Guardiola’s wishes, and those from others, worked. Ranawade was discharged from hospital later that day, in time to join his team-mates in their extended celebrations at the hotel. “I was happy, but looking at the faces of my team-mates it felt like they were happier,” Ranawade, who was an integral part of Mumbai’s dominant run in the 2020-21 season, said. “They were relieved.”
Those faces had been a picture of anxiety the previous night. As the stricken Ranawade was being attended to on the pitch, visuals of Mumbai left-back Vignesh Dakshinamurthy and Bagan’s Manvir Singh praying flashed on TV. The entire Mumbai team was visibly shaken when the half-time whistle blew, the break helping them calm down.
Two months on, most of that eventful night is a blur for Ranawade. “Till date, I don’t remember any of that; the doctors told me I never will because of the concussion. I was told I wanted to carry on playing. It was only the next morning that my friends, family and doctors told me what had happened,” he said.
Mumbai City won the final to add to their Shield triumph. Every victory speech, by the players and head coach Sergio Lobera, was about how they wanted to win it for Ranawade. Moroccan midfielder Ahmed Jahouh held the youngster’s No. 4 jersey when the team lifted the trophy. “When I woke up the next day, I saw those pictures and heard from my family what my team-mates had done, how everyone spoke about me. I was in tears. Such big players, such a big team and doing these things for me. To win the trophy with them, even if I wasn’t part of the celebrations, was a great feeling.”
Ranawade enjoyed a fruitful ISL, and for the first time playing for his home club. The right-back featured in 20 matches in the season, notching up 30 clearances, 67 tackles and 34 interceptions. He played a key role alongside the likes of Mourtada Fall to keep Mumbai’s defensive structure while providing a thrust to Lobera’s attacking game. More than the numbers, Ranawade cherished his game time—1,564 minutes this term compared to 66 in the previous edition playing two matches for FC Goa.
“The last two seasons I didn’t get much game time. I gained a lot of experience this season. I learnt a lot playing with guys like Fall, Hernan (Santana), Jahouh. I was with them before but playing competitive matches in a league is totally different to training with them.”
Turning up for his home club while continuing to evolve as a player under Lobera—he coached FC Goa last season before shifting—was a bonus. “I knew even before joining Mumbai City what kind of football he likes and what I was expected to do. I love his style of play. I support Manchester City, enjoy Pep Guardiola’s football. I love it.”
Ranawade’s bond with football, and its most famous coach, has only strengthened.
