Mumbai City FC pulled off a clinical 2-0 win over Bengaluru FC at the Mumbai Football Arena, here on Friday. Thus securing much-needed three points from the Indian Super League encounter.
Modou Sogou scored for Islanders in the first half while Amine Chermiti came to the scene in other to ensure a comfortable victory for the Islanders.
Pertinently, Mumbai became the first team to beat Bengaluru in both home and away games in league fixtures.
With this victory, Bengaluru FC sit at second on the points table with 22 points, while Mumbai are down at fifth with 19 points.
Overall, It was a gripping contest between the two teams with Islanders scoring their first goal in the 13th minute, courtesy Sogou’s header — which, however, was more of a miscommunication between Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh and the defenders that made way for Sougou to collect a fine pass from Rowling Borges.
Borges as well assisted Chermiti at 55’, who finished from close range after Harmanjot Khabra’s backpass for Gurpreet Singh Sandhu fell at his feet.
Borges was impressive for Mumbai, particularly in the first thirty minutes, with one assist, two
created chances, 15 completed passes out of 19, 5 tackles, and a blocked shot.
The other highlights of the match were the on-field banters between the two teams, which was unusually high with several fouls from both ends — one of it resulted in a yellow card, which was handed out to Dimas Delgado.
There was also a point where Albert Serran happened to trail his foot on Chermiti’s face. The referee, however, did not seem interested to pull up the offender. Another instance was of Sarthak Golui jumping over Manuel Onwu.
Amidst flaring temper, especially in the first half, the drama continued when Mumbai’s Shubhashish Bose planted a header past Gurpreet in the 44th minute, but was later adjourned as an offside.
Only a minute later, Bengaluru captain Sunil Chhetri found himself in a similar spot after his smash that finished past Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, was declared offside. The Bangalore fans at the stadium couldn’t help but cry foul.
