Defending champion Mohun Bagan Super Giant made a spectacular comeback as it first recovered a two-goal deficit to hold Bengaluru FC 2-2 in the regulation time and then clinched the issue 4-3 via tiebreaker to secure its passage to the final of the 133rd Durand Cup. The semifinal match at the Salt Lake Stadium saw an absorbing battle as both the opponents displayed remarkable attacking styles, but Mohun Bagan SG emerged victorious for showing greater resilience and application.
Goalkeeper Vishal Kaith, who had salvaged Mohun Bagan’s fortune in the quarterfinal saving two attempts in the shoot-outs against Punjab FC, did his job once again as he blocked the last two attempts of the Bengaluru FC ‘shooters’ to help the Mariners secure its 30th appearance in the final of the Asia’s oldest tournament.
Mohun Bagan SG will take on NorthEast United FC in the final scheduled here on Saturday.
The tiebreakers saw the two sides doing well initially with successful conversions in the first three chances, but things changed here as Kaith made two important saves rightly judging the successive attempts of Bengaluru FC’s Halicharan Narzary and Aleksandar Jovanovic.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had saved the final shot taken by Mohun Bagan’s Scottish striker Greg Stewart but that did not prove enough in the end. Jason Cummings, Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco and Dimitri Petratos made successful attempts for Mohun Bagan SG while Edgar Mendez, Rahul Bheke and Pedro Capo found the target for Bengaluru FC.
Sunil Chhetri converted a penalty late in the first half before Vinith Venkatesh doubled the lead early after the break to give Bengaluru FC a two-goal cushion by the 51st minute.
Mohun Bagan mounted a serious comeback effort hereafter and neutralised Bengaluru FC’s lead by the 84th minute as Dimitri Petratos, who struck from the spot in the 68th minute, and Anirudh Thapa found the net to push the action to the penalties.
The result: Mohun Bagan SG 2 (Dimitri Petratos 68-pen, Anirudh Thapa 84) bt Bengaluru FC 2 (Sunil Chhetri 43-pen, Vinith Venkatesh 51) (Mohun Bagan beat Bengaluru FC 4-3 via tie-breaker).
