Bengaluru FC and Sunil Chhetri won their maiden Durand Cup title beating Mumbai City 2-1 in the summit clash at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. Chhetri, who was first noticed in this tournament some 20 years back as a youngster playing for Delhi’s City FC, hugged wife Sonam and celebrated with teammates.
“Two decades is a bit of a wait, but if it meant doing it in the blue of Bengaluru, then it was worth every season of trying. Durand Cup Champions — would have been a shame if an Army kid playing football professionally never had the chance to say this,” he later tweeted.
Sivasakthi Narayanan (10th minute) and Brazilian Alan Costa (61st) scored for the winners while Apuia Ralte got the lone goal for the Mumbai side in an entertaining match.
Bengaluru FC took an early lead through Sivasakthi, his fifth goal of the tournament. The long ball was delivered from the deep by Aleksandar Jovanovic, which put Mourtada Fall under pressure with Sivasakthi on his shoulder.
The Senegalese defender was in the end foxedby the bounce and Sivasakthi pounced on it with a measured chip over goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa. After Lallianzuala Chhangte had the first chance for Mumbai City in the 17thminute, they got the equaliser at the half-hour mark when Sandesh Jhingan gave away a free-kick in a dangerous zone.
Ahmed Jahouh played on Greg Stewart, who went on one of his runs and took a left-footed grounder towards goal which Gurpreet Sandhu fended off. Apuia was at hand though and tapped home there bound with ease. Bengaluru FC almost went ahead in the 38th minute, when, off a Roshan Singh corner, a rebound fell for Roy Krishna and he shot towards goal. Chhangte brought off a miraculous goal line save.
Vinit Rai then had a chance after being played on by Stewart but shot over from close and the only other notable incident of the half was the match’s first yellow card for Mourtada Fall, the Mumbai captain, who had a forgettable 45 minutes. Five minutes after the resumption, Jahouh delivered a measured long ball which fell for Chhangte. He did well to get away from two BFC defenders but, with just the keeper to beat, the tournament’s highest scorer shot over.
