East Bengal defeated Mumbai City FC 4-3 in a thrilling clash of the Durand Cup at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan on Saturday.
Sumeet Passi and Cleiton Silva got two goals each for EEB while Lallianzuala Chhangte had a brace as well for MCFC, where a crazy first half saw six of the seven goals being scored. Greg Stewart scored the other goal for MCFC.
East Bengal 4-3 Mumbai City FC
The Red & Golds suffered an unfortunate loss against arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan a few days back. The team, after keeping two clean sheets, went on to concede an own goal. Stephen Constantine’s side is looking forward to their first win of the competition.
Cleiton Silva had his first shot on target in the 17th minute which Nawaz saved but seconds later Semboi Haokip snatched the ball in the middle of the MCFC half and played Jerry down the left just outside the box. The Mizo left wing-back drove in and delivered a cross which found Sumeet Passi unmarked on the far post. His header back across the keeper found the target for EB’s first of the tournament.
Mumbai City FC hit back in the 27th minute as Bipin’s cross was chested down for Stewart to volley it with a superb sidekick and get one goal back. In the 34th Cleiton made another amazing run down the spine and sprayed it on the right for Passi, whose shot cum cross went through the hands of Nawaz in the Mumbai City FC goal.
Mumbai City were level in the 43rd minute after Alberto Noguera’s shot was parried by Kamaljit as Bipin’s cross into the box was met with a thunderous strike by Chhangte that flew into the back of the net. It was a crazy 20 minutes after that which saw two goalkeeping blunders and four more goals being scored, one by the Red & Golds and three by the Islanders.
In the 81st minute, Cleiton won the ball in midfield and passed it onto Amarjit Kiyam on the right and then ran up to meet the cross. He did, ahead of a waiting Eliandro to hand East Bengal what proved to be the winner. This time, they managed to hold on to the joy of their supporters.
It was not only East Bengal’s first win of the campaign, but also the first time they had scored and they made it up by scoring all of four on the day. Islanders had already booked their place in the quarter-finals as East Bengal having crashed out after their loss to arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata derby. The final game in the group between Rajasthan United FC (RUFC) and Indian Navy on Monday, September 05, 2022, will determine who among ATK Mohun Bagan and RUFC take the second qualifying spot for the knockouts.
