ISL 2020-21: Looking back at the last five Kolkata Derbies

Re-christened as SC East Bengal and ATK Mohun Bagan, the derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will take place on the ISL stage for the first time on Friday, 27 November at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Goa.

Few matches come close to matching the excitement of the Kolkata Derby. With the ISL just a couple of weeks away, here we take a look back at the last five occasions when the Kolkata giants went head to head, and what the outcome was.

January 19, 2020 - Mohun Bagan 2 - 1 East Bengal

Goals from Joseba Beitia and Papa Babacar Diawara helped Mohun Bagan establish a 2-goal lead in this all-important derby, and the lead played a huge part in them getting over the line eventually.

Marcos de La Espada then scored in the 71st minute to give East Bengal some hope of making a comeback into the match. But Mohun Bagan defended resolutely to hold on to the lead and emerge 2-1 victors in the match.

The match was played before lockdown and no fans were allowed inside stadiums. One hopes it would be soon before crowds are allowed into stadiums again.

September 1, 2019 - Mohun Bagan 0 - 0 East Bengal

Joseba Beitia looks on as the clubs shared the spoils

This encounter between the two teams took place in the Calcutta Football League, and even though the stage was local, the match was not lacking in intensity.

What it was lacking in, however, was goals, as the match ended goalless despite attempts by both sides to break the deadlock.

As the game progressed, the nervousness of both sets of supporters also increased because one goal would do the job the longer the game went on. That golden chance did indeed fall on Alexander Romario of Mohun Bagan in the 91st minute after he received a cross from Joseba Beitia. However, he failed to convert, and the teams shared points.

27 January, 2019 - East Bengal 2 - 0 Mohun Bagan

The 2-0 victory by East Bengal also completed their first double over their cross-town rivals in 15 years. Spearheaded by Jobby Justin, East Bengal opened the scoring through Jaime Santos in the 35th minute, and it came after Justin had missed a clear cut chance in the opening minutes.

There were some contentious refereeing decisions on either side as the intensity of the match grew. But East Bengal was the more clinical side as Justin's 75th minute strike ensured that the Red and Gold took all three points on offer.

16 December, 2018 - East Bengal 3 - 2 Mohun Bagan

This was one of the most closely-fought Kolkata derbies in recent memory and the score meant that the Red and Gold won this fixture after a whole 988 days. A ten-man Mohun Bagan was defeated 3-2 by East Bengal, with Laldanmawia Ralte and Jobby Justin the standout performers.

It was, however, Mohun Bagan who took the lead through Omar Elhussieny. Laldnanmawia Ralte equalized shortly after for East Bengal, and right before half-time, Jobby Justin came up with an acrobatic effort to give his team the lead. Going into half-time, East Bengal led 2-1.

Around the 60-minute mark, Kingsley was sent off for a second yellow card after grappling Jobby Justin to the ground. The tide then further began swinging East Bengal's way. They established a two-goal cushion when Laldanmawia scored once again.

Mohun Bagan scored a consolation third goal through Dipanda in the dying minutes, but it wasn't enough to prevent a Red & Gold victory.

2 September 2018 - East Bengal 2 - 2 Mohun Bagan

In the first derby of the 2018-19 season in the Calcutta Football League, East Bengal took the bragging rights despite the match ending in a draw, as they came back from two goals down to steal a point. Pintu Mahata and Henry Kisseka had earlier scored for Mohun Bagan before half-time to give them a two-goal lead.

However, Jonny Acosta and Laldanmawia Ralte scored to level the scores.

Both teams tried their level best to steal a victory, but a slew of chances missed by either side meant that the spoils were shared.