ISL 2024-25: Mohun Bagan SG defeat Bengaluru FC in Extra Time to Create History
- Gourab Goswami
- Apr 22
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 2
Jamie Maclaren and Jason Cummings scored cancelling our an own goal from Alberto to complete a historic 2-1 victory over Bengaluru to become the first team in ISL history to win the cup at their home.
The final kicked off under electrifying atmosphere at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Mohun Bagan have a 14 match unbeaten streak at home leading up to the final. Could Bengaluru snap this streak? Mohun Bagan went in with their strongest lineup on paper. Stewart and Petratos start from the bench expectedly. Bengaluru on the other hand have opted to start with Ryan Williams. Pereyra Diaz start from the bench. But he will surely have something to say in the later half of the match. Sunil Chhetri, the talisman starts from the beginning. Most important update for them would be the fact that Suresh can start ignoring his hamstring injury.
Solid at back and direct in attack. This has been the mantra behind Mohun Bagan's unbeaten run this season. They started with a similar approach. Cummings found Maclaren from a cross field long ball in the opening minutes that could have proved dangerous. Maclaren almost opened up the goal for Cummings from a cross from the right in the 9th minute as well. But the match remained goalless.
Bengaluru remained a little sketchy in the midfield. They were struggling to gain the momentum in the opening minutes. The target was to use Edgar Mendez as a target man. Chhetri was operating from the attacking middle role. Noguera was proving pivotal in the transition play. But the pace was firmly being controlled by Mohun Bagan.
Mohun Bagan gained a free kick in the 12th minute. The ball was curled in the box by Cummings. But no one could reach the end of it. Another attack was mounted in the 14th minute through Liston who crosses in a low ball. The loose ball found Thapa whose shot was blocked off by Bheke. He has lost the ball in the first place. He would think himself to be lucky that he could put the block in.
Bengaluru found a real possibility of opening the door in the 16th minute through a freekick just outside the box. Ryan Williams induced a fould from Subhasish in a great position. But Chhetri's freekick was a tame one that was hit straight into the wall.
The low crosses were proving to be very dangerous for Bengaluru to deal with. A quick attack from the right found Manvir in the open. His delivery was dangerous and just inches away from a Maclaren touch. Gurpreet greatfully collected the ball without any intervention.
The game was quickly becoming end to end. Bengaluru's best opening so far came in the 19th minute from a Noguera corner that found the head of Chhetri. Kaith stood his ground to deny the legend.
Both the teams had struggles to really settle down in the opening 20 minutes. Fouls were induced repeatedly in the midfield. Liston attempted a long ranger in the 22nd minute that went way wide of the mark.
Ryan Williams was creating most of the problems for the Mohun Bagan defence. He ran through almost everyone in the 23rd minute. Alberto touched it out for a corner in a last grasp clearance. Namgyal Bhutia almost caught out Vishal Kaith from a curler. But Kaith followed the ball well.
Aldred almost messed things up in the 25th minute when a ball was snatched off him by Edgar Mendez. A cross from Ryan Williams caught the hand of Subhasish inside the box. But a penalty shout was waves off quickly by the referee. Mohun Bagan were starting to look a little flat after the initial flurry of chances created.
An extremely cynical tackle from Chhetri on Liston stopped a possible counter in the 29yh minute. He avoided a yellow card probably due to the weight of his shirt. But the attack just afterwards from Mohun Bagan once again broke down in the attacking third due to the lack of quality in final balls.
Another Bengaluru corner taken by Noguera was strongly defended by the Mohun Bagan defence in the 31st minute. Both the teams were struggling to build a proper attack but were flourishing in defence. Much like big finals, all exchanges were sketchy leading up to the water break finally taken in the 33ed minute of the match.
After the restart Bengaluru kept on attacking through the trip of Noguera, Chhetri and Ryan Williams. The three kept combining to open up the Mohun Bagan defence repeatedly. They were also letting Chhetri go unmarked too many times. This might prove to be costly for them. Cancelling off Mohun Bagan's wing play completely was also proving frustrating for them. They were struggling to find any attacking outlets from the counter.
Ryan Williams was almost walking past Subhasish repeatedly to put in extremely dangerous balls. Another such ball in the 40th minute looked extremely dangerous. But the resultant was not fruitful once again.
A counter attack against the run of play in the 42nd minute opened up the attack for Mohun Bagan after a long time. Buy the final through from Maclaren was just a little short for Cummings.
The battle of the midfield has been won by Bengaluru in the first half. Noguera and Pedro Capo had established a complete domination over Apuia and Thapa. Mohun Bagan were struggling to create either any space or to win the second balls either. Zaragoza will definitely be the happiest coach walking into the changing room for the half time. They had done everything apart from scoring a goal.
That they almost did in the 2nd minute of added time through Chhetri who almost scored another header from a Ryan Williams cross. With this the first half came to an end. Molina will have his platter full with much to chalk out for the second half.
Bengaluru continued from where they left off in the first half. They created a big opening through the usual suspects Noguera and Ryan Williams. Vishal Kaith produced a wonderful save to keep the score at 0-0.
Mohun Bagan almost opened up the goal themselves in the following minute through a Manvir strike. But the wide strike was deemed offside.
The first decisive moment of the match came in the 49th minute. Another overlap from Ryan Williams saw him putting in a low cross unchallenged. Alberto put his foot out that induced a viscious deflection off his sheen into the top corner past Kaith. An own goal for Alberto in the ISL final. A record he would have never wanted. This goal was a long time coming to be honest for Bengaluru. They were mounting the pressure incessantly. But the eventual goal comes from a mistake rather than any moment of magic. Bengaluru lead 1-0 in the ISL final.
Mohun Bagan continued being hapless in the midfield. Nothing was building up from the middle. But almost out of nowhere, Subhasish played a ball into Cummings who shielded off the defender to take a good shot in the far bottom cornerij the 58th minute. Gurpreet made a strong save to deny Cummings. This brought the crowd back into action after a long time.
Bengaluru made the first change of the match which was forced due to an injury to Namgyal Bhutia. Fanai was brought on to replace him.
Another Noguera freekick from the midfield again found Chhetri's header. It was almost baffling to see Chhetri being left unmarked for so long.
Mohun Bagan made a double change in the 62nd minute. This was surely much needed. Thapa was taken off in favor of Sahal. An out of sorts Liston for the night was replaced by Ashique in the left. Molina would hope that the wing play would be energized through the changes and Sahal would be able to influence the midfield more.
The two substitutes Sahal and Ashique combined to create an opening in the 65th minute. Sahal's final shot after dribbling past a couple of players was blocked by Fanai for a corner. Sahal skipped past one and took a shot that was blocked again from the ensuing corner.
Bengaluru coach identified the little shift in momentum and brought on the dangerous Perreyra Diaz to replace Edgar Mendez in the 68th minute.
The mounting pressure from the left paid off for Mohun Bagan in the 70th minute finally. Subhasish to Ashique to Cummings the ball was played. Cummings crossed in the ball for Maclaren whose shot was handled by the divung Sana. Cummings took the resultant penalty to slot in the ball calmly in the bottom right corner beyond the pal of the outstretched Gurpreet. Two defensive lapses, two goals. A mctb poised at 1-1 ok the 73 minute mark. It was all to play for in the final 20 minutes.
On the verge of the water break in the 75th minute, Jamie Maclaren found himself completely unmarked from an Asish Rai cross from right. Maclaren's header sailed over the goal. He should have induced atleast a save from Gurpreet.
Ashique and Sahal kept up their combination play in the 78th minute to open up another good opportunity that Sahal was unable to keep on target again.
A lapse in the midfield from Apuia found Ryan Williams having another chance. But he too slotted the ball far over the goal.
As the last throw of the dice, Molina brought on Greg Stewart in the 81st minute to replace Cummings who had surely played out his part for the match.
Ashique was proving to be the decisive change by Molina. He almost created another chance from the left in the 84th minute. But the ball was cleared off for a corner.
The narrative of the match had once again shifted firmly in favor of Mohun Bagan. The ebb and flow of the match was properly reflected in the 1-1 scoreline. Perreyra Diaz conceded the first yellow card of the match in the 85th minute. Pedro Capo conceded the second yellow for a challenge on Sahal in the 89th minute. The defensive desperation of Bengaluru was in full display now.
In search of a late winners one last time in the season, Ashique almost opened it up again in the 90th minute. But a Gurpreet save resulted in a corner. Two corners were gained by Mohun Bagan in quick succession going into the 4 minutes of added time. But they could not open the face of the goal.
A great move from Mohun Bagan almost opened it up again in the 93rd minute. A Stewart through found Maclaren who almost paid it on for Sahal. But the decisive clearance resulted in another corner. The Stewart corner was once again cleared away strongly by the Bengaluru defence.
With this the regulation time came to an end. Another 30 minutes of regulation play and possible penalties would now decide the fate of the ISL 2024-25 cup.
The extra time started with a Mohun Bagan change. Deepak Tangri was brought on replace Subhasish Bose. A tactical change again. Ashique would slot in the left back position. And Deepak would be the destroyer in chief in the midfield.
It was almost doomsday for Alberto in the 94th minute when another Ryan Williams cross took a deadly deflection and went towards the top corner. But this time Kaith saved the blushes.
In the 96th minute, the deadlock was finally broken. Another attack from Greg Stewart resulted in a low cross that was intercepted by Sana. But Maclaren the poacher stole the ball like a hawk and slotted the ball through the legs of Gurpreet for an extra time goal. Mohun Bagan, propelled by 60000 shouting supporters, was leading the final 2-1 in the 96th minute.
Bengaluru looked dejected and desperate to do something in order to come back. In the meantime, Mohun Bagan was forced to make another change with a Jamie Maclaren injury. To the delight of the crowd, Dimi Petratos was brought on in the 102nd minute.
With the first half of extra time coming to an end, Mohun Bagan were on the verge of following the usual trajectory of the season. Coming back from any deficit at home to win.
Mohun Bagan players started making lazy tackles in the second half. Both Stewart and Ashique were booked in close succession around the 110 minute mark.
As a last throw of the dice, Shiva Sakthi was brought on to replace Ryan Williams by Zaragoza. The match continued in a sketchy manner to say the least with tried players all around.
Every pass, every tackle and every run was full of desperation from both sides in the last 5 minutes. With little of actual substance happening, the referee blew the final whistle to the delight of a crowd, a city and millions of fans to announce the historic ISL double for Mohun Bagan SG.
