ATK Mohun Bagan, the Indian Super League (ISL) champions, started their AFC Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over Sunil Chhetri’s Bengaluru FC at the National Stadium in the Maldives on Wednesday. Subhasish Bose, a left-back, and Roy Krishna, a famous Fijian striker, scored both goals in the Group D match.
Despite having less ball possession, ATK Mohun Bagan was the dominant team throughout the encounter, creating more chances. Roy Krishna of ATK Mohun Bagan scored the first goal in the 39th minute. His header from the center of the box into the goal’s high center. Following a corner, Subhasish Bose aided it.
With ATK Mohun Bagan ahead 1-0 at halftime, the teams went into the break. The Mariners did not waste any time in doubling their lead, scoring straight after halftime. ATK Mohun Bagan went ahead 2-0 thanks to Subhasish Bose’s brilliant touch in the area, which he converted past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
In the final quarter of the match, Bengaluru FC showed glimpses of a comeback, but they were halted by the rock-solid Mohun Bagan defense. In the encounter, they had 68 percent possession and fired 12 shots, three of which were on target. Mohun Bagan created a lot of nice opportunities and capitalized on them. With 11 shots and 5 on target, they only possessed 32 percent of the ball.
Bengaluru FC’s new coach Marco Pezzaiuoli made two changes to the team that defeated Club Eagles, replacing AshiqueKuruniyan and Rohit Kumar with Naorem Roshan Singh and Ajay Chhetri. Amrinder Singh, Hugo Boumous, and Deepak Tangri made their debuts for the Mariners, who had a busy summer transfer window, while Liston Colaco, Bidyananda Singh, Ashutosh Mehta, Ricky John Shabong, Abhishek Suryavanshi, and KiyanNassiri sat on the bench.
Group D will feature Bengaluru FC (India), ATK Mohun Bagan (India), Bashundhara Kings (Bangladesh), and Maziya S&RC (Maldives). The Maldives National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives, will host the AFC Cup 2021 Group D matches. On August 18, 21, and 24, all four teams will compete in a round-robin format over three days, with the group leaders advancing to the single-leg Inter-Zone Semi-Final.
