Until now, Sunil Chhetri’s trophy cabinet did not contain only the Durand Cup. Sunday’s Kolkata also fulfilled that dream of Bengal’s son-in-law. Sunil’s Bengaluru FC beat Mumbai City FC 2-1 in the Durand Cup final at the Yuva Bharati Stadium.
Sunil Chhetri’s elusive dream has come true. Until now, his trophy cabinet did not contain only the Durand Cup. Sunday’s Kolkata also fulfilled that dream of Bengal’s son-in-law. Bengaluru FC beat Mumbai City FC 2-1 in the Durand Cup Final at the Yuva Bharati Stadium. Shivashakti and Alan Costa scored for Bengaluru. Apuiya is the only scorer for Mumbai.
Both teams, who came into the competition with full strength teams, faced each other in the final. Mumbai gets a free kick in the first minute. But they could not use it. However, Bengaluru went ahead after 10 minutes against the game. Jovanovic floated the ball out of defense. Shivashakti scored after Murtada topped the ball. It was his fifth goal in the competition. This footballer from Tamil Nadu can be called the discovery of Durand Cup.
Mumbai got a chance in the 17th minute. Lalianjuala Changte could not capitalize on it. However, Mumbai equalized after half an hour of the match. Due to a foul by Sandesh Jinghan, they get a free kick right in front of the Bengaluru box. Ahmed Jahu passes to Greg Stewart. His shot was saved by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu but Apuiya scored on the return ball. Bengaluru could have gone ahead in the 38th minute. Roy Krishna took a quick shot from Roshan Singh’s corner. However, Changte made an excellent save from the goal line.
Bangalore went ahead in the second half. Costa scored a header from Sunil’s corner. The Mumbai coach made several changes in a desperate bid to equalize at the end of the match. It didn’t work.
Bengaluru has won I-League, ISL, Federation Cup, Super Cup in domestic football. They were also runners-up in the AFC Cup. This time the Durand Cup also entered their room. Sunil’s dream came true.