East Bengal defeated Mumbai City FC 4-3 in a thrilling clash of the Durand Cup at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan on Saturday.
Cleiton Silva and Sumeet Passi scored two goals for East Bengal as Lallinzuala Chhangte netted a brace and Greg Stewart scored one for Mumbai City FC.
Islanders had already booked their place in the quarter-finals as the ‘red and gold’ brigade having crashed out after their loss to arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata derby.
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Determined to prove a point, East Bengal started the game on the front foot from the word go, capitalising on the mistakes in defence from Mumbai City FC.
In the 9th minute, Mumbai City tried hitting East Bengal as Greg Stewart found Bipin Singh on the right as he passed it onto Mandar Rao Dessai.
The left-back sent in a dangerous ball across as Jorge Perera Diaz’s poke went past the goal with Kamalajit beaten at the near post.
The pressure was constant from East Bengal as Thongkhosiem Haokip stole the ball in midfield and sent a through ball in for Cleiton Silva but it was saved by Mohammed Nawaz. The goal did come in the very next minute itself as Jerry Lalrinzuala stole the ball again and crossed the ball deep for
Sumeet Passi to put in a diving header to put it into the back of the net for the time this season.
It did not stop there as Cleiton was brought down in a dangerous position and he himself stepped up to send in a curling free-kick to send the East B
Three minutes later, East Bengal broke through Cleiton after getting the ball near his own penalty box from a free-kick to run the length but his finish just crawled past the far post.
Mumbai City FC hit back in the 27th minute as Bipin’s cross was chested down for Stewart to volley it with a superb sidekick and get one goal back.
In the 34th Cleiton made another amazing run down the spine and sprayed it on the right for Passi, whose shot cum cross went through the hands of Nawaz in the Mumbai City FC goal. He celebrated by running up to the East Bengal fans and covered his ears.
Lallinzuala Chhangte again pulled one back as his shot from the left edge of the penalty box was completely missed by Kamaljit in goal.
Mumbai City were level in the 43rd minute after Alberto Noguera’s shot was parried by Kamaljit as Bipin’s cross into the box was met with a thunderous strike by Chhangte that flew into the back of the net.
After the break, Stephen Constantine brought on Eliandro, who won the ball back in the 53rd minute and started off a lightning counter-attack. After good play with Mohamad Rakip on the right, the ball went over to the left as he cut back to Eliandro but his shot was saved by Nawaz.
The second descended into a mixture of farce and drama as goal-line clearances, goal mouth misses saved by off-sides and players hitting their own teammate in the face with a clearance.
In the 81st minute, Cleiton won the ball in midfield and passed it onto Amarjit Kiyam on the right and then ran up to meet the cross. He did, ahead of a waiting Eliandro to hand East Bengal what proved to be the winner.
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