A second of sheer brilliance from Dimitri Petratos proved decisive as 10-man Mohun Bagan Super Giant beat arch-rivals East Bengal 1-0 in a fiercely contested ultimate to clinch Durand Cup title for the primary time after 23 years right here on Sunday.
Mohun Bagan have been one-man down after Anirudh Thapa was despatched off within the 62nd minute, however they nonetheless scored the decisive purpose via an excellent solo effort from Petratos within the 71st minute.
In a swift counter-attacking transfer, the Australian participant skilfully weaved previous the East Bengal defence, earlier than unleashing a strong strike from 25 yards out. East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill was left a mute spectator.
Dimitri petratooooooooos Goal
Mohunbagan 1-0 East Bengal#KolkataDerby || #Mohunbagan pic.twitter.com/xAGVlQqHoV
— ᴅᴇʙᴀsɪsʜ (@Debasis55249601) September 3, 2023
This was Mohun Bagan’s seventeenth Durand Cup title. They final received the title in 2000 once they beat Mahindra United by way of a golden purpose.
As the clock ticked away, East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat made three adjustments, bringing in Nishu Kumar, VP Suhair and Edwin Vanspaul within the final 10 minutes in a bid to revive parity.
His Mohun Bagan counterpart Juan Ferrando pressed eight gamers into his defence with Anwar Ali rock stable within the center.
In a heated alternate, East Bengal’s assistant coach Dimas Delgado bought right into a disagreement with Ferrando, and after a scuffle, the previous obtained a crimson card within the second-half further time.
In the 86th minute, Edwin Vanspaul tried a shot heading in the right direction from exterior the field, however Anwar Ali was fast to react, making a well timed block to disclaim East Bengal any probability of an equaliser.
Mohun Bagan thus avenged their 2004 Durand Cup ultimate defeat to East Bengal once they had misplaced 1-2.
In this part, Mohun Bagan had misplaced three Durand Cup finals, the final being towards Gokulam Kerala (1-2) in 2019.
From East Bengal’s perspective, a national-level title continued to elude them for greater than 11 years now. Their final title at senior-level stays the Federation Cup in 2012.
Both sides got here near scoring however none might make use of their probabilities to see a goal-less first 45 minutes.
Sahal Abdul Samad bought the ball on the fringe of the field. Since he was surrounded, he bought it to Petratos in entrance of him with a straight move and the Australian tried a shot. But the ball flies simply over the crosspiece within the first-half harm time.
Just earlier than that, final derby hero Nandhakumar Sekar and Siverio did not strike from two back-to-back probabilities after East Bengal attacked on the counter with Rakip and Borja combining on the suitable flank.
At the hour mark, Mohun Bagan missed a sitter with Hugo Boumous fluffing it in entrance of the purpose publish.
Petratos delivered a excessive ball to Manvir on the suitable, because the second-half substitute who changed an off-color Ashish Rai, set it up completely for Hugo contained in the field.
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But Hugo made a large number of a straightforward end and the goal-less stalemate continued. Just two minutes later, Mohun Bagan have been decreased to 10 gamers when Anirudh Thapa was despatched off for his deal with on Siverio.
The India midfielder tried to get the possession of an aerial ball and his excessive boot hit the Spaniard on his head in a deal with that appeared purely unintentional.
But the East Bengal ahead went down wreathing in ache and Thapa was proven his second yellow card by referee Rahul Gupta.
