Charismatic Cleiton Silva carries East Bengal FC over the line against Hyderabad FC with crucial brace | ISL 2023-24

After a frustrating stalemate in their opener, East Bengal FC crawled to a 2-1 victory against Hyderabad FC, thanks to their talismanic striker Cleiton Silva. He scored a brace, including a miraculous free-kick late in the match on Saturday, September 30.

The Salt Lake Stadium was left rocking when the Brazilian international scored the 93rd-minute free-kick to seal the three points.

Carles Cuadrat opted for a single change to his system with Cleiton replacing Javier Siverio, who was out with an eye infection.

For Hyderabad, Thingboi Singto's men lined up in a 4-3-3 system with Felipe Amorim leading the attack. Joao Victor was pushed to the center-back spot while Petteri Pennanen slotted into the middle of the park.

Right from the first whistle, there was an air of nervousness surrounding both sides and the East Bengal defense was the first to succumb to it in the eighth minute itself.

The hosts were caught napping as a deflected shot from Pennanen fell for Hitesh Sharma, who stormed untracked right in front of the opposition goal line. The ball kindly fell for the young midfielder and he eased it past a helpless Prabhsukhan Singh Gill between the sticks.

The Red and Gold Brigade were trailing and Cuadrat was left fuming at the sidelines. However, his side managed to react almost immediately thanks to another abysmal defensive showing, but this time from Hyderabad.

Playing against his former club, Borja Herrera made a surging run into the box. While Nim Dorjee managed to dislodge the Spaniard off the ball with a lunging tackle, Cleiton Silva chipped the loose ball over Laxmikant Kattimani to restore parity.

After the initial chaos, the intensity faded away slightly for the rest of the first half. Yet, clear-out chances emerged for either outfit. Right before the half-time break, HFC suffered a major blow when Kattimani bore the brunt of a clash between him and Cleiton.

The custodian went down with a head injury and a swelled-up eye, and Anuj Kumar replaced him immediately.

Meanwhile, both teams went into the half-time break on level pegging and there was all left to play for in the second half.

Second half comes to life eventually

After the break, Carles Cuadrat opted for an immediate change as he spotted some areas of improvement in the first half. Souvik Chakrabarti made way for Mohammad Rakip as there was a visible change in the system.

In complete contrast to the initial moments of the first half, the start of the second 45 minutes was a massively frustrating affair for both teams.

Neither side managed to control the proceedings and plenty of stray passes were made. The first major drama unfolded in the 79th minute when there were consecutive penalty shouts at both ends of the pitch. Aaren D'Silva was brought down by Khabra and then Nandhakumar went down at the other end.

As the match boiled down to the final 10 minutes, both teams upped the ante and Joseph Knowles had a crack from outside the box to trouble Gill. The latter parried the effort away with a strong punch.

Meanwhile, Javier Siverio, off the bench, had a chance to sink the heart of his old club when Nishu Kumar found the Spaniard with a curling cross. But Siverio's effort was just shy of the HFC goal frame and Anuj Kumar could only breathe a sigh of relief.

However, there was one final twist left. A deciding one, but more importantly, an astounding one. In the third minute of injury time, East Bengal won a free kick in the opposition's half and Cleiton stood over it.

The Brazilian had done it in the past - scoring in the death from a free-kick to guide the Torchbearers to three points. Not many would've placed a bet on him to do it again, but the 36-year-old unleashed a dipping effort, which kissed the underside of the bar and nestled into the net.

As the Red and Gold Brigade roared in unison, East Bengal marched towards their first three points in the ISL. The victory will massively boost the confidence of the Kolkata Giants when they travel to Bengaluru FC next week.

Meanwhile, for Hyderabad, they'll take pride in the performance in their opener and will hope to build on it right away.