Mohun Bagan Super Giant were stretched to the limit before staving off Bengaluru FC’s remarkable challenge and winning the ISL-XI Cup final 2-1 in extra time at the jam-packed Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.
Bagan thus became the second team after Mumbai City FC to do an ISL double. They had already won the League Shield in February and Saturday’s win exorcised the ghost of last summer when they missed out on a double delight after stumbling in the Cup final at the same venue.
Bengaluru FC, who were the better team for most of the 90 minutes, took the lead through an own goal by Bagan defender Alberto Rodriguez four minutes after the change of ends.
Jason Cummings scored the equaliser by converting a penalty in the 72nd minute and then Jamie Maclaren made it 2-1 in the 96th minute.
The moment referee Senthil Nathan S blew the final whistle, the stadium erupted into unbridled euphoria. Fire crackers, chants in the stands, the Bagan bench rushing onto the ground to join the party... No one, perhaps, was happier than owner Sanjiv Goenka, who had a super Saturday as his cricket franchise, Lucknow Super Giants, won earlier in the evening.
Hugging the players, basking in the glory in front of nearly 60,000 spectators, Goenka was beaming. Success on the field gives a high. Ever since he invested in football, ATK, ATK Mohun Bagan and Mohun Bagan Super Giant have returned with trophies.
Critics may cringe at the way Mohun Bagan Super Giant splurge on players, making the transfer market topsy-turvy, but with the results coming and fans over the moon, there’s no point raising a finger at them.
Have it, flaunt it.
To give credit to Goenka, he has been pumping money into football since 2014 — the year ISL was born — without thinking about the monetary returns. The way Bagan supporters celebrated on Saturday was probably the No. 1 — the number on the shirt he wears during Bagan matches — for him.
Bagan, though, were not at their best on Saturday. They were not allowed to be by Bengaluru FC’s coach Gerard Zaragoza. He made a smart move of packing the midfield with the foreign trio of Alberto Noguera, Edgar Mendez and Pedri Capo. Bagan’s Lalengmawia Ralte and Anirudh Thapa were completely clueless against the guile of Bengaluru’s midfield trio. Upfront, Sunil Chhetri — who at 40 played for 120 minutes — and Ryan Williams were a constant thorn to the Bagan defence. All those who thought it would be a cakewalk for Bagan were in for a surprise.
Yet, Bagan won because of their never-say-die attitude and bench strength. Even after the own goal — Ryan Williams sent in a centre from the left, Bagan defender Alberto Rodriguez tried to block it and his failed clearance had the ball curl into his own net, giving goalie Vishal Kaith hardly a chance to move — Bagan did not lose heart. They kept knocking on the Bengaluru FC doors and finally got the equaliser.
Cummings whipped in a cross from the left for Jamie Maclaren, whose shot hit Chinglensana Singh’s hand. The referee did not hesitate to point to the spot.
Cummings, like he did against Jamshedpur FC earlier this week, stepped up for the penalty kick and found the bottom corner on the left. Gurpreet guessed the right way, but he was no match for the force of the shot, which rattled the net. The stadium roared, it was match on.
In the regulation time, Cummings had missed an easy header with only the Bengaluru FC goalkeeper Sandhu at his mercy and Maclaren, brilliantly fed by a Greg Stewart ball, could not hold onto the pass inside the six-yard box.
The winner came in the 96th minute. Stewart again sent in a ball, Chinglensana was slow in dealing with it, and Maclaren pounced on it and slid it past Sandhu.
