It has taken him 25 matches across two seasons, but Florent Malouda finally has an ISL goal against his name.
It is not like he has not had an influence on Delhi Dynamos and their fortunes. In 2015, he raised the bar of his team's midfield, collecting a record eight assists. However, before Wednesday night's encounter against the defending champions Chennaiyin FC, 2016 had been a much quieter season for him.
Though he made an appearance in each of Delhi's games this season, the starts were few and far between, a direct contrast to 2015 when he only cumulatively missed about an hour's play in 16 matches.
The impact on Wednesday was early, with Malouda pulling the strings in midfield and setting up Richard Gadze for the first goal, though he may not have meant to do it. Snatching the ball off a tentative Siam Hanghal in the Chennaiyin midfield, he weaved his way through the defence before unleashing a rare right-footed strike that spilled out of Karanjit Singh's gloves, and Gadze scored on the follow-through.
Gadze then turned provider as he held the ball up for a bit before playing into the nearest white shirt, where Malouda picked up the ball and then curled a delightful ball around Bernard Mendy and beyond the outstretched right glove of Karanjit. It was his first goal in the ISL, but the planning and his execution of it was worth the wait.
Malouda's second assist of the night was perhaps his second-best play of the night. Malouda toyed with the Chennaiyin defender Mehrajuddin Wadoo, paying him attention before tapping the ball on to the path of an onrushing Kean Lewis, who finished well to move to three goals for the season -- a massive confidence boost for the young winger.
Malouda's best play came when he left the Chennaiyin midfield for dead with a ball that he curled with his right leg over his marker, and then split the ball for the attacking players going forward. There would be no goal from this move, but for sheer vision and quality, it was a masterclass in the making.
There was so much for the younger Indians like Lewis and Milan Singh to learn from their captain on the night, including how Malouda made himself available for Delhi's fourth goal.
Malouda was hovering just beyond the six-yard box when a corner was floated in. The substitute Badara Badji was the first to head it, and by that time, Malouda had quietly ghosted in on the near post. When Badji's header was falling free at the post, all Malouda had to do was just caress the ball into the net, to give Delhi their third win on the trot.
Besides making Delhi the third team to do the double against Chennaiyin in a season - both Atletico de Kolkata and NorthEast United beat them home and away in the league stages of 2015 --this is the best run of any team this year.
And with a marquee hitting both form and fitness - Malouda hardly had to bust a lung in staying on the pitch throughout the match and dictating the pace of the match - this is great news for Gianluca Zambrotta as his team keeps laying the marker for others to aspire for this season.