Bengaluru FC started their Indian Super League campaign with a 1-0 win over East Bengal with 19-year-old Vinith Venkatesh scoring in his debut match here on Saturday.
Venkatesh’s 25th-minute strike was the difference between the two teams.
It was a fairytale ISL debut for Bengaluru FC academy graduate Venkatesh. He showed glimpses of his brilliance in the recently concluded Durand Cup and carried that momentum into the new ISL season.
It was a cagey start from both sides with plenty of tackles flying in, mostly to disrupt the momentum.
Nandha Kumar was guilty of a mis-timed challenge in the third minute when he brought down Suresh Wangjam. The East Bengal FC winger received a yellow card for his reckless tackle.
Despite the caution, tackles kept flying as Lalchungnunga and later Hector Yuste also joined Nandha into the referee’s book.
The first real opportunity of the game came when Jeakson Singh collected a loose ball outside the penalty area. He launched a thumping effort towards the goal, forcing Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to come up with his best to thwart away the danger.
Six minutes later, Bengaluru FC had an opportunity of their own when Roshan Singh picked Mohammed Rakip’s pocket in a dangerous area, starting a counterattack. He squared the ball to Edgar Mendez in space, probably expecting a return pass from the Spaniard. But the experienced striker decided to test Prabhsukhan Gill from long range.
Mendez’s eventual effort went skimming over the post.
The Blues finally went ahead courtesy of an excellent move from Mendez, who picked Venkatesh in space on the right. The youngster created space with an exceptional touch before firing the ball into the bottom corner in the 25th minute.
The second half saw more of the same aggressive football between the two teams with many challenges flying in, especially in the middle of the park. Nandha had the golden opportunity to bring East Bengal back into the game when Hijazi Maher played him into space. However, his thunderous effort from just outside the box was kept out by Gurpreet.
Carles Cuadrat decided to turn to star signing Madih Talal at the expense of Dimitrios Diamantakos in the 57th minute while Gerard Zaragoza also brought on the likes of Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Ryan Williams to inject more energy upfront.
In the 69th minute, the substitution almost paid off when Diaz found the back of the net but moments later he was flagged offside.
On the other end, substitute Vishnu PV combined well with Talal but the former’s effort was too tame to trouble Gurpreet.
The visitors continued to push forward in the final quarter as Cleiton Silva found himself in space but the Brazilian’s shot was way over the target.
Their hopes of salvaging something from the match took a severe hit when Lalchungnunga was given marching orders in the 87th minute following a second yellow card for a poor challenge on Williams. Eventually, East Bengal FC fell short despite creating several openings throughout the match.
East Bengal FC will be on the road as they will travel to Kochi to face Kerala Blasters on September 22 whereas Bengaluru FC will host Hyderabad FC next on September 19.
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