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Sunil Chhetri converted a penalty to cancel Messi Bouli’s opener after Dimitrios Diamantakos was sent off as East Bengal FC were held 1-1 by Bengaluru FC in the 2024-25 Indian Super League.
ISL 2024-25: East Bengal 1-1 Bengaluru FC. (X)
East Bengal FC crashed out of the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) playoff race after being held to a 1-1 draw by Bengaluru FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday.
Sunil Chhetri converted a penalty to cancel Messi Bouli’s opener after Dimitrios Diamantakos was sent off.
It was a frantic start in the opening exchanges. Ryan Williams made quick work down the right wing but his cross just evaded Edgar Mendez, while Dimitrios Diamantakos forced a smart block from Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
East Bengal could have opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Aleksandar Jovanovic missed a simple pass from Saul Crespo, leaving Diamantakos free in behind. He ran in and tried to find PV Vishnu with a timely cutback but the young Indian forward could not get his body shape right, with his shot flying wildly over the crossbar.
Messi Bouli did not miss soon after as he handed East Bengal the lead in the 11th minute, slotting his shot into the bottom left corner with a fierce left-footed strike. He ran over to the corner flag and celebrated with an exquisitely executed somersault as the ‘Red and Gold’ brigade were delirious in the stands.
Bengaluru FC tried to get immediately back in the game but Roshan Singh and Sunil Chhetri’s back-to-back shots were somehow kept out.
In the 26th minute, Mahesh Naorem seemingly doubled East Bengal’s lead as his left-footed shot ruffled the inside net after cutting in from the right but Diamantakos had strayed off-side and found himself stranded in front of the keeper.
Vishnu could have scored again in the very next minute, but yet again, his shot sailed over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.
When the water break was called, Anwar Ali looked in trouble with injury and had to be replaced by Jeakson Singh.
Bengaluru doubled down on their efforts to sneak back into the game, inviting tough tackles from East Bengal as Alberto Noguera, Williams, and Mendez got free kicks.
With the fouls growing ferocious, Provat Lakra and Namgyal Bhutia went into the referee’s book. But in added time, Diamantakos reacted poorly to Fanai’s tackle from behind as the East Bengal forward decided to lean into Noguera with his head after the pair got into a confrontation. After the ensuing melee, the referee fished red for the Greek star and showed the Bengaluru midfielder a yellow card.
As East Bengal started the second half with 10 men, Oscar Bruzon opted to bring on defensive reinforcements, with Nishu Kumar replacing Provat Lakra. Gerard Zaragoza also opted for a shakeup, with Vinith Venkatesh coming in for Suresh Singh.
In the 49th minute Messi went into the referee’s book.
Bengaluru FC threw bodies forward in their continued search for an equalizer but Souvik Chakrabarti almost doubled the lead for East Bengal in the 62nd minute with a thunderous strike that was barely kept out by Gurpreet.
The resulting corner saw Chakrabarti winning a free-kick on the edge of the right as Venkatesh saw yellow for dangerous kick.
More changes followed for Bengaluru as Sivasakthi Narayanan came on for Namgyal Bhutia with East Bengal’s David Lalhlansanga and Richard Celis coming in for Vishnu and Messi.
Just before the second water break, Mendez had two glorious chances to score but could not capitalise with a telling touch. In the 76th minute, there was madness at either ends of the field. Sivasakthi had his left-footed strike come off the up-right as David’s shot from the counter was saved by the giant frame of Gurpreet.
In the 80th minute, Jovanovic, Williams and Chinglensana all had a chance to score but East Bengal held on.
Zaragoza’s last throw of dice came in the form of Mohamed Salah replacing Fanai.
With the clock striking 90, Bengaluru FC got a lifeline as Nishu handled a cross from Salah inside the penalty box. The referee had no choice but to point the spot. Chhetri stepped up to send Prabhsukhan Gill the wrong way, level the scoreline for Bengaluru FC and send East Bengal crashing out of the playoff race.
