Former champions Bengaluru FC were up against Northeast United in their first game of the season, and registered a convincing 4-2 win, which quite easily could’ve been more for the blue brigade.
Cleiton Silva opened the scoring for Bengaluru after he found himself in a sensational position from Udanta Singh’s pass. The Brazilian had to make his way around the keeper to slot the ball into an empty net, as the men in blue went 1-0 up in 14 minutes. The lead, however, lasted just three minutes for the hosts.
The next 11 minutes saw some very enthralling football, with both sides scoring 3 goals between each other. Suhair Vadakkepeedika crossed the ball from the left flank quite beautifully, where Deshorn Brown took a touch and hammered home the equalizer for NEUFC.
Bengaluru came right back in the mix, with their men marching in with intent. However, the goal which provided them a lead was as comical as one would have witnessed.
Ashique Kuruniyan’s cross-cum-shot from the left side hit the crossbar awkwardly and goalkeeper Subhasish Chowdhury was left on the floor. He managed to keep out the rebound effort from Udanta Singh, and the ball fell for Mashoor Shereef who swung his boot viciously to clear the ball, but instead hammered it into his own net and was left with his hands covering his face out of embarrassment.
The frenzy end-to-end action, however, got the second equalizer inside three minutes for Northeast, who got lucky with a clearance from Bengaluru, and Mathias Coureur finished the ball with a slightly scrappy finish. To cap off a period of frantic football, Jayesh Rana scored with an assist from Silva as Bengaluru went into half-time break with a 3-2 lead.
The 2018/19 champions later conjured up some fantastic control to ensure the Highlanders had very little ball in the second half. Bengaluru instead had the better chances but couldn’t get a 2-goal cushion until very late in the game.
Prince Ibara, who came on in the 71st minute for Leon Augustine, got Bengaluru the goal which sealed the deal on Saturday. A brilliant through ball from Alan Costa on the left flank was picked up by Ibara, who cut inside and slotted the ball home past Chowdhary’s near post to make it 4-2 for Bengaluru, and earned them three crucial points.
