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What’s the story?
While Bengaluru FC emerged as the winners of the first-ever Super Cup against Kolkata giants East Bengal, the fans of the Red and Gold brigade have taken to their Twitter accounts to express their rage against some of the refereeing decisions during the match.
In case you didn’t know…
Goals from Rahul Bheke, Miku and a brace from captain fantastic Sunil Chhetri, helped the Southern Eagles conquer the finale of the inaugural edition of the Super Cup as they were crowned the champions against East Bengal.
This is the fifth trophy for Albert Roca’s men in the duration of the last five years, as BFC clinched the Hero Super Cup, becoming the first ever winners of the tournament.
The heart of the matter
The action took place at Odisha's Kalinga Stadium as 10-man East Bengal failed in their endeavours to contain BFC. However, EB fans seem to be highly upset with the match official of the finale fixture this afternoon.
A certain tackle from Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu on East Bengal striker Ansumana Kromah was a hot topic of resentment that stirred an outrage among the fans of the team from Kolkata on Twitter.
Kromah broke away from the Bengaluru defenders, chasing an aerial through ball from midfield, as he was closely followed by Bengaluru centreback John Johnson. Seeing that the East Bengal forward had managed to get behind the defence, Gurpreet charged out of his area and went in for a tackle.
However, he left his foot high in the air, and even managed to place his studs on Kromah's arm (as seen in the picture), which needed some treatment later on.
Despite the raised foot, however, the referee only gave Gurpreet a yellow card, something that seemed to have irked both the East Bengal players and fans alike.
Following is a string of Tweets from fans who expressed their unhappiness on social media...
What’s next?
While the East Bengal fans seem devastated post the result, they must move past this and continue to back their team in this time of need. It is time for Bengaluru FC to now shift their focus onto the group stages of the AFC Cup amid their Super Cup celebrations.
Author’s take
While poor decisions from the referee can be understandably frustrating from the stands, there is not much that can be done about the way things unfolded for East Bengal. Regardless of the red cards, or handballs, or un-penalised fouls, Bengaluru FC clearly were the better side out of the two and displayed some great football for the fans to watch; while on the other hand, due credit must be given to Khalid’s men – who indeed put up a strong fight.
