A second of sheer brilliance from Dimitri Petratos proved decisive as 10-man Mohun Bagan Tremendous Large beat arch-rivals East Bengal 1-0 in a fiercely contested remaining 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 aim by means of a superb 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.
This was Mohun Bagan’s seventeenth Durand Cup title. They final received the title in 2000 once they beat Mahindra United through a golden aim.
Because 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 strong within the center.
In a heated trade, East Bengal’s assistant coach Dimas Delgado received right into a disagreement with Ferrando, and after a scuffle, the previous acquired a crimson card within the second-half additional time.
Within the 86th minute, Edwin Vanspaul tried a shot on the right track from exterior the field, however Anwar Ali was fast to react, making a well timed block to disclaim East Bengal any likelihood of an equaliser.
Mohun Bagan thus avenged their 2004 Durand Cup remaining defeat to East Bengal once they had misplaced 1-2.
On this section, Mohun Bagan had misplaced three Durand Cup finals, the final being towards Gokulam Kerala (1-2) in 2019.
Dimitri Petratos celebrates with teammates after scoring the aim towards East Bengal | Salil Bera
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.
Either side got here near scoring however none may make use of their probabilities to see a goal-less first 45 minutes.
Sahal Abdul Samad received the ball on the fringe of the field. Since he was surrounded, he received it to Petratos in entrance of him with a straight move and the Australian tried a shot. However the ball flies simply over the crosspiece within the first-half harm time.
Simply 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 precise flank.
On the hour mark, Mohun Bagan missed a sitter with Hugo Boumous fluffing it in entrance of the aim publish.
Petratos delivered a excessive ball to Manvir on the precise, because the second-half substitute who changed an off-color Ashish Rai, set it up completely for Hugo contained in the field.
However Hugo made a large number of a simple end and the goal-less stalemate continued.
Simply two minutes later, Mohun Bagan have been lowered to 10 gamers when Anirudh Thapa was despatched off for his sort out 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 sort out that appeared purely unintentional.
However the East Bengal ahead went down wreathing in ache and Thapa was proven his second yellow card by referee Rahul Gupta.
