Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s captain Subhasish Bose lifts the championship trophy
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The Indian Super League final this year was expected to be a simple game. Twenty-two men were to pass the ball around the Salt Lake Stadium for 90 minutes, and in the end, Mohun Bagan were expected to be crowned champions. Well, at least that was the script for the last 40 hours from the locals.
The script was put to action by the Mariners as they were eventually crowned champions of India after 120 minutes at a stadium that gave home to four tifos, a few banners and almost 60,000 fans on Saturday.
Huge favourties going into the game, the hosts were outplayed for long periods in the first 45, and an end-to-end first half ended 0-0.
The two sides, after probably two contrasting half-time talks, remained unchanged.
Bengaluru found some spark early into the second half and the fire followed when Ryan Williams’ wizardry broke Bagan’s resistance and a dangerous cross caused the unfortunate Alberto Rodriguez to flick it past his own goalkeeper, Vishal Kaith to give BFC a 1-0 lead.
A frustrated, fist-clenching Jose Molina rang in the changes and got in Aashique Kuruniyan and Sahal Samad for Liston Colaco and Anirudh Thapa, respectively.
On the other hand, a nervous-eyed yet cool-looking Gerard Zarazoga substituted out Namgyal Bhutia for Lalremtluanga Fanai.
The quality of the bench injected a spring into Bagan’s legs as they started to grow in confidence and charge in as the voices surrounding them grew louder.
Jamie McLaren put in a cross and was handed a penalty after Sana´s hand came in contact inside the box. Jason Cummings, cool, calm and composed slotted it past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu despite the keeper going the right place in the 72nd minute.
Bengaluru completely lost their momentum and with it went hopes of controlling the tempo of the match with 59,112 fans, all screaming at the top of their voices at a eardrum-rupturing home stadium.
The hosts started to pile pressure on the Bengaluru defense, but a little pressure was off when the referee called full-time, with an extra 30 minutes being added.
And it was again, Mohun Bagan who stormed to the fore, showcasing an eye for the big moment, and it was Jamie MacLaren´s scene-stealing show when he snatched onto a Bheke error and put it behind Gurpreet to give Bagan a 2-1 lead.
Bengaluru did their best in the face of pressure as the broadcast cameras were put to shame with close to 57,000 mobile torch lights on.
The scenic view helped Bagan to dust themselves down and turn the screws with Bengaluru trying to find an equaliser.
The last two minutes of play sent the stadium reeling with the intensity of voices from Bagan fans that had the nature to pulverise the pressure off the ball.
In the end, Mohun Bagan were the deserving winners with their stellar showing throughout the season -- having now completed the domestic double (ISL Shield and ISL Cup).
Result (final): Mohun Bagan SG: 2 (Jason Cummings 72nd pen, Jamie Maclaren 96th) bt Bengaluru FC: 1 (Alberto Rodriguez 49th OG).