By virtue of nodding home from an Edu Bedia corner-kick against the Mariners in the 76th minute, Fares Arnaout on Sunday became the first-ever Syrian footballer to score a goal in the Hero Indian Super League.

Hailing from the Middle East nation, Arnaout has battled against the ravages of wars in his homeland, language barriers and much more, and has still excelled whenever given the opportunity on the pitch.

The celebration that followed his goal was equally special, with the 25-year-old making a ‘rocking the cradle’ gesture in honour of his daughter, Kyla, who was born just a little over a month ago.

“Ever since she came into my life, I’ve been feeling incredible. I’ve been able to see the positives everywhere, and in many ways, I was able to look at things in a new light,” the centre-back said after the match.

“There’s so much love and joy in our home since she came into our lives and of course these kinds of moments help you to be good on the pitch as well. My goal was dedicated to her, that’s the least I can do.

“The last couple of weeks was a difficult period for me personally, because of my injury. I had waited for a long time to play in front of my team’s fans here at our Fatorda Fortress, but against Jamshedpur FC, I could be on the pitch only for 10 minutes or so. The injury meant that I missed the next match (against Kerala Blasters) as well, which was stressful because I badly wanted to play.

“Coach Pena then advised me to focus on my recovery, and that’s all I have done since. When he informed me that I made the cut for the matchday squad against ATKMB, I was overjoyed. I finally got my chance to make an impact in the second half, and I’m happy with how things panned out,” he went on.

“Now, my focus is recovery. The majority of the season still remains, and there’s plenty of work left to do. We need to play more games like this,” Fares Arnaout concluded.