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What’s The Story?
It was an emphatic debut for Bengaluru FC in ISL as they thrashed Mumbai City FC in their first game by 2-0 on Sunday. It was their captain Sunil Chhetri again, who stole the limelight after scoring his 50th goal for Bengaluru FC.
The other goal scorer was Eduardo Martin Garcia. This is the first time Bengaluru are playing the ISL, and in the very first match, the captain led the way for the ‘Blues’.
The context
In the 67th minute of the match, Edu, who played for Real Zaragoza’s B team, broke the ice for the BFC. He played a one-two with Udanta Singh and then unleashed a blistering left-footer as Mumbai goalie Amrinder Singh was beaten at the near post. In the 93rd minute of the match, it was Chhetri’s turn as he took the opportunity of Mehrajuddin’s blunder in defence and swiftly scored his 50th goal for BFC.
The heart of the matter
In the second half itself, Chhetri was shown the yellow-card for play-acting. In the dying minutes of the match, the Indian captain finally registered his name on the score sheet for BFC.
Interestingly, he didn’t celebrate his goal at all, as the goal was against his former club Mumbai City FC. BFC coach Albert Roca's traditional 4-4-2 formation was something that worked brilliantly in a tournament, where a number of clubs like to play a single-striker setup.
What’s next:
After playing the I-League successfully for few seasons, BFC enlisted themselves for ISL this year and they started off with a bang. Now, they would look forward to capitalise on this start and build some momentum into the initial phase of the tournament. In the first appearance, they had won the I-League, and now it would huge if they can repeat the same in ISL too.
Author’s Take:
After legendary Bhaichung Bhutia, the poster boy for the modern generation of Indian football fans is Sunil Chhetri. He is the captain of the national side and the torchbearer of Indian football. He is one of the greatest footballers India have ever produced and if he keeps on scoring, then Bengaluru will be a tough team to beat.
