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FC Goa marched into the quarter-finals of the Kalinga Super Cup 2025 with a dominant 3-0 win over Gokulam Kerala FC at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening.
Spanish midfielder Iker Guarrotxena was the star of the show, netting a fine hat-trick to guide the Gaurs through to the next round. The opening goal came in the 22nd minute, following an electric run by Dejan Drazic who drove forward from the halfway line and was brought down inside the Gokulam box. Iker stepped up and calmly converted from the spot, smashing the ball down the middle to give his team the lead. Thirteen minutes later, the Men in Orange doubled their advantage. Aakash Sangwan surged forward on an overlapping run down the left flank, received the ball in space and whipped in a pinpoint cross into the box. Iker timed his run to perfection and volleyed it home past the diving goalkeeper. The Spaniard completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute. This time, it was Jay Gupta who played a sharp low cross to Udanta Singh on the right side of the box. The winger unselfishly squared it to Iker, who made no mistake in slotting it in from close range. With this, Iker now has 23 goals in 45 appearances for FC Goa, making him the third-highest goalscorer in the Club's history. At the other end, goalkeeper Hrithik Tiwari and the defence led by skipper Odei Onaindia and Sandesh Jhingan remained alert. Hrithik made a couple of key saves in the dying minutes to preserve his eighth clean sheet of the season. The win sees FC Goa through to the quarter-finals of the Kalinga Super Cup, where they will face the winner of the match later today between Odisha FC and Punjab FC.(ANI)
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