East Bengal’s hopes of earning a playoff berth in the ISL-XI ended on Sunday when they drew 1-1 with already-qualified Bengaluru FC at the Salt Lake Stadium.

East Bengal, placed eighth in the points table, have 28 from 23 games now, and could get to a maximum of 31 with one game remaining, which would still fall short of the sixth-placed NorthEast United FC (32).

Messi Bouli gave East Bengal the lead in the 11th minute when his shot from the centre of the box beat keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

Oscar Bruzon’s men, however, suffered a setback at the stroke of half-time. Frontliner Dimitrios Diamantakos was shown a red card following a feisty challenge.

Bengaluru FC had to wait for the equaliser till the final minutes. Nishu Kumar handled the ball while marking Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri inside the 18-yard box. A composed Chhetri converted the spot-kick.

East Bengal’s focus now shifts to Wednesday’s AFC Challenge League match at the Salt Lake Stadium.