East Bengal coach Oscar Bruzon once again courted controversy when he accused three former club players — Syed Rahim Nabi, Sandip Nandi and Alvito D'Cunha — of being too critical of the players when the chips are down.

East Bengal face Punjab FC in a crucial ISL-12 match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday. Bruzon's men are on top of the league table with 21 points from 10 matches.

Bruzon and his players endured boos after the 1-1 draw against Kerala Blasters on March 14. Since then, East Bengal have hit top gear and in the last match on May 5, they came up trumps against Mumbai City FC away with a 2-1 win.

"As you know, after the Kerala Blasters match, there was a "go back" slogan from the stands. There are people in the club who don't want the team's success. (Syed Rahim) Nabi, Sandip Nandi and Alvito (D'Cunha) in particular had some bad words for the players. Where are they now?" Bruzon did not mince his words in the news conference at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.

Nandi was the East Bengal goalkeeper coach till the IFA Shield final in October, 2025, and resigned after falling out with Bruzon.

"They are always trying to undermine the team's performance. These kind of people are very harmful to the club. This is not about the coach. This is about my players, about my system and about the damage they did to East Bengal," the Spaniard, who is leaving on May 31, said.

"They are brokers, they are like a cancer disease. People like them are the reason why East Bengal could not have good seasons in the past," he added.

"Credit to the players' resilience. They didn't get disturbed by the outside noise," Bruzon said.

Md. Sp. beaten

Kerala Blasters produced a dominant second-half display to secure a 3-1 victory against Mohammedan Sporting at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, extending their unbeaten run to five matches.

Francisco Feuillassier, Víctor Bertomeu and Sreekuttan MS scored for the hosts.