Mandar Rao Dessai

Mandar Rao Dessai

Dessai shaking hands with Manohar Parrikar at the 2014 Lusofonia Games
Personal information
Full name	Mandar Rao Dattarao Dessai
Date of birth	(1992-03-18) 18 March 1992 (age 32) [1]
Place of birth	Mapusa, Goa, India
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) [2]
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Chennaiyin
Youth career
	Dempo
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–2016	Dempo	30	(3)
2014	→ Goa (loan)	11	(0)
2015	→ Goa (loan)	15	(3)
2016–2020	Goa	71	(3)
2016–2017	→ Bengaluru (loan)	9	(1)
2020–2023	Mumbai City	41	(0)
2023–2024	East Bengal	17	(0)
2024–	Chennaiyin	0	(0)
International career‡
2014	India U20	4	(1)
2015	India U23	1	(0)
2019–2021	India	9	(0)
Medal record Men's football Representing   India SAFF Championship Winner 2021 Maldives
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:33, 6 March 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 October 2021

Mandar Rao Dessai (born 18 March 1992) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Indian Super League club Chennaiyin.

Career

Dempo

Desai made his professional debut for Dempo in the 2013-14 I-League on 22 September 2013 against Shillong Lajong at the Duler Stadium and played the match till 55th minute before he was replaced by Jeje Lalpekhlua as his team lost the match 0–3. ^[3]

Goa (loan)

Mandar represented Goa in the 2014 Indian Super League, on loan from Dempo, and was a regular for his team on the left wing. ^[2]

Return to Dempo

After the 2014 ISL, Mandar returned to his senior club and started the new season in the 2014-15 Indian Federation Cup, where he played in 5 of his teams' cup-winning campaign, assisting Tolgay Ozbey once in a group game. While he was regular for Dempo during the 2014-15 I-League, he could not prevent his team from getting relegated. He made 14 appearances, with only 5 starts in the league.

Goa (loan)

Mandar was retained by Goa for the 2015 Indian Super League with Zico impressed by him from the 2014 season. He started and scored in the first game of the season against Roberto Carlos lead northern outfit Delhi Dynamos from a Romeo Fernandes assist as his team won 2–0. ^[4] He scored again in a round 4 game away at Guwahati against NorthEast United after coming on as a substitute, from a swift counterattack, showing his impressive pace. ^[5] Mandar then turned in his first assist of the season at home against Kerala Blasters from a corner, assisting Gregory Arnolin with a goal that turned out be the winner. ^[6] He won Hero of the Match awards for his performances against Delhi Dynamos and Pune City in 2015 Indian Super League. Mandar scored his 3rd goal of the season against Kerala Blasters in a 1–5 win at Kochi on 29 November 2015, where he also assisted Reinaldo for the 3rd goal. ^[7]

Return to Dempo

After contractual problems, Mandar returned to play for Dempo, where he had a contract until the end of the 2015–16 season where he helped his team win promotion back to the I-League. ^[8]

Goa

Desai signed a permanent deal with Goa from the 2016 Indian Super League season. He later went to Spain for a short training cum trial stint with La Liga side Villarreal CF. ^[9]

Mumbai City

In 2020, Dessai moved to Mumbai City and emerged champions of the 2020–21 season. He was later included in club's 2022 AFC Champions League squad. ^[10]

International

Mandar captained Goa-India during the 2014 Lusophony Games where he made 4 appearances and scored once, as he led his team to the gold medal, beating the under-20 team of Mozambique in the final. ^{[11] [12]}

Mandar made his India U23 debut in the 2014 Asian Games against UAE U23. ^[13]

Personal life

Mandar was in a relationship with Danish footballer Cecilie Bjørnstrup Andersen, from 2018 until their separation in 2021. They have a daughter namely Aya and son called Adrian.

Career statistics

Club

As of 6 March 2024 ^[14]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dempo	2013–14	I-League	6	0	0	0	—		6	0
	2014–15		14	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	—		15	0
	2015–16	I-League 2nd Division	10	3	—		—		10	3
	Total		30	3	1	0	—		31	3
Goa (loan)	2014	Indian Super League	11	0	—		—		11	0
	2015		15	2	—		—		15	2
Goa	2016		12	1	—		—		12	1
	2017–18		20	2	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	—		23	2
	2018–19		19	0	0	0	—		23	0
	2019–20		20	0	—		—		20	0
	Total		97	5	3	0	—		100	5
Bengaluru (loan)	2016–17	I-League	9	1	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	11	1
Mumbai City	2020–21	Indian Super League	17	0	—		—		17	0
	2021–22		14	0	—		5 [lower-alpha 4]	0	19	0
	2022–23		10	0	6 [lower-alpha 5] [lower-alpha 2]	0	1 [lower-alpha 6]	0	17	0
	Total		41	0	6	0	6	0	53	0
East Bengal	2023–24	Indian Super League	17	0	7 [lower-alpha 5] [lower-alpha 2]	0	—		24	0
Chennaiyin	2024–25		0	0	—		—		0	0
Career total			190	9	16	0	8	0	214	9

1. Appearance(s) in Federation Cup
2. Appearance(s) in Super Cup
3. Appearance(s) in AFC Cup
4. Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League
5. Appearance(s) in Durand Cup
6. Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League qualifiers

International

As of 16 October 2021 ^[14]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
India	2019	5	0
	2021	4	0
Total		9	0

Honours

Dempo

• I-League 2nd Division: 2015–16

Goa

• ISL League Winners Shield: 2019–20
• Super Cup: 2019

Mumbai City

• Indian Super League: 2020–21
• ISL League Winners Shield: 2020–21
• ISL League Winners Shield: 2022–23

East Bengal

• Super Cup: 2024
• Durand Cup Runner Up: 2023

India

• SAFF Championship: 2021

India U20 (Goa India)

• Lusofonia Games Gold medal: 2014 ^[15]

References

1. "Mandar Rao Married Desai". Goal.com. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
2. "Mandar Rao Dessai profile - Age, Goals, Avg. passes and more". Indian Super League.
3. Noronha, Anselm. "Dempo SC 0-3 Shillong Lajong FC: Glen ends the north eastern side's Goan voodoo". Goal.com. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
4. "FC Goa beat spirited Delhi Dynamos FC 2-0". Indian Super League.
5. "FC Goa bounce back with a 3-1 away win". Indian Super League.
6. "FC Goa down Kerala Blasters 2-1 to go top". Indian Super League.
7. "Kerala Blasters v Goa Live Commentary & Result, 29/11/15, Indian Super League | Goal.com". www.goal.com.
8. "Indian Super League: Mandar Desai - Fines delaying my FC Goa renewal | Goal.com". www.goal.com.
9. Kaviraj, Tina (26 August 2016). "Indian midfielder Mandar Rao Dessai trains with La Liga side Villarreal". www.sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
10. Guha, Sayantan (6 April 2022). "All you need to know about Mumbai City FC's AFC Champions League 2022 campaign". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
11. "Lusofonia Games: Mozambique beat India to enter football semis - Times of India". The Times of India.
12. Daniel, Chris Punnakkattu (28 January 2014). "Goa-India win the Lusofonia Games football tournament".
13. "Result | FB | Sports". Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
14. Mandar Rao Dessai at Soccerway
15. Goa-India win the Lusofonia Games football tournament Archived 8 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine blog.cpdfootball.de. Retrieved 7 September 2021

External links

• Mandar Rao Dessai at Soccerway
• Mandar Rao Dessai at WorldFootball.net
• Mandar Rao Dessai at National-Football-Teams.com