Sree Kanteerava saw another humiliation of Bengaluru FC in hands of Mohun Bagan. It’s 4-0 and it could have been much more to be honest. A match which started with a very good message as we saw players are walking on the pitch with the homeless dogs of Second Chance Sanctuary who have been providing adoption of these ever loyal animals. But, on the ground there was not so good exchange among the players especially in the first half. The match begins with very high tempo as both sets of players trying to dominate each other on the field and the tussle became too physical sometime. The first yellow card have been flashed as early as on 9th minute of the game when Amandeep’s high boot against Shivaldo found him guilty.
This incident also saw a very animated and uncharacteristic Gurpreet Singh Sandhu rushing from his box towards the referee and arguing over the further punishment. Gurpreet was the second man to receive the caution. Then after Bengaluru Coach Gerard Zaragoza unnecessarily joined in altercation with Dimi Petratos and received yellow card. In one point referee Rahul Gupta showed 5 yellow cards within the first 35 minute. In between all this Mohun Bagan broke the deadlock on 17th minute from a brilliantly orchestrated corner kick. Petratos delivered a flat corner from which Yuste’s flick was hit the cross bar and from the rebound Yuste took a stunning volley into the net (1-0). Petratos’s also took a stunning right footed volley from outside the box but it was acrobatically saved by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu on 24th minute of the game.
Bengaluru got their best chance on 40th minute when Chhetri was fouled inside the box by Anwar Ali. But his effort from the penalty hits the cross bar. That was probably the major talking point of the match. Mohun Bagan made a calculative gamble with the inclusion of Amandeep in the starting XI but it wasn’t his day. They are lucky that he remain on the pitch for full 45 minutes. After quick realisation they have rectified their mistakes and replace Amandeep during the half time break and bring Ashish Rai on. This change added confidence at the back and From the beginning of second half Mariners took further control of the match as Mohun Bagan Fans beginning to up the tempo on the gallery and players also put their extra effort on the pitch. On 51st minute Joni Kauko sees upcoming Manvir from the left wing and he back heel a brilliant through ball for him. Manvir made no mistake to out muscled Roshan and finish passed Gurpreet at the near post (2-0).
After this goal the course of the match completely turns in favour of Mohun Bagan as Bengaluru looks clueless in that period. Just after three minutes of time Joni Kauko create some free space and took a grounder from outside the box but Gurpreet hurriedly clear the ball which is intercepted by Petratos inside the box and from his minus Anirudh Thapa increase the lead from 4 yards of the goal (3-0). Match was done and dusted then and Bengaluru replaced their three key players Chhetri, Dros and Javi with three youngstars Manirul, Rohit Danu and Shivasakhti. It was turning into a humiliation for Bengaluru FC, in front of home fans, when Kauko delivered a brilliant through ball and Manvir Singh makes a run inside the box and spots Sadiku in support. He squares the ball to him and the Albanian taps the ball inside the empty net (4-0). Mohun Bagan did get couple of more chances to increase the lead but Sadiku was the guilty party to waste those opportunities. Mohun Bagan replaced all their yellow carded players including Abhishek and Yuste and put Hamill and Hnamte on the pitch. Bengaluru players are completely rattled by this Mohun Bagan thunder storm and play for the whistle but nothing else at the end.
With this win Mohun Bagan delivered a clear message to the Mumbai City FC that it will going to be a mighty battle on Monday. The news are coming that home fans will completely occupy the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan and no empty seat will be spared. By facing this hostile and noisy atmosphere, Mumbai will be under tremendous pressure against home team. We saw a similar kind of match during Durand Cup where Mumbai was in much better shape but they couldn’t handle the pressure of Mohun Bagan fans on the gallery. On the other hand, Mohun Bagan has nothing to lose and will put their almighty effort against Mumbai to register the win because if they drop any point this will be over for them. The match will start from 7:30 PM on Monday and expected to have a full house attendance from Green and Maroon supporters. Who would have thought couple of months ago that the League will end in this blockbuster fashion?
Starting XI:
Vishal(GK), Héctor, Subhasish(c), Anwar, Kauko, Abhisek, Amandeep, Manvir, Thapa, Dimitri, Sadiku.
