"A once in a lifetime experience" - Euphoria surrounding East Bengal FC's Super Cup victory captures Kolkata

Twelve years of relentless hurting, misery, humiliation, and uncountable so-near-yet-so-far moments, were wiped away in a jiffy as the referee blew the final whistle at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.

East Bengal, braving the Hollywood-esque twists and turns of the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 finale clash against Odisha FC, laid their bare hands on a national-level trophy for the first time in over a decade.

The unadulterated emotions of redemption crescendoed on to the Kolkata streets when the team landed in the city on Monday afternoon. Carles Cuadrat and his lionhearted soldiers were greeted with thunderous cheers from the East Bengal faithful.

The Kolkata airport was overwhelmed by a sea of Red and Gold and Sportskeeda's Sayak Dipta Dey, who was present throughout the trophy parade, attempted to describe the euphoria in his humble words.

"The team landed at the airport at around 3.50 pm but it took them almost 40 minutes to clear the crowd. There were at least 5,000 fans in the arrival area itself, and thousands more joined in for the roadshow to the club tent later. Expectedly it turned slightly chaotic as the fans were eager to get a glimpse of the trophy, the players, and obviously Carles Cuadrat," Sayak narrated.

"Gulals, pyros, smoke bombs, partnered with East Bengal's anthem and drums reverberating through the airport made it a little too surreal. It felt like a festival. The fans were left in tears, and so was Cuadrat who might have not been able to comprehend the magnitude of the celebrations."

From the airport, the procession transcended into the streets of Kolkata marching towards the East Bengal club tent. Sayak shared an anecdote about a friend of his who traveled to the club ground on the back of a stranger's bike, whose name he couldn't even recollect. An essence of brotherhood enwrapped all and every Torchbearers who were in attendance.

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"It was all like a dream" - East Bengal fan encapsulates the emotions of sitting through the drama-filled Super Cup 2024 final

Moments away from quenching their national-level trophy thirst, the smoke bombs, the banners, and the chants were reaching their ceiling when East Bengal conceded a penalty in the seventh minute of additional time. The hearts of those forlorn supporters had started to sink. The past horrors of failure had started to cloud their minds. Ahmed Jahouh stepped up to take the spot-kick and without flinching sent the match into extra-time.

Ardent East Bengal supporter Tamoghna Dey, who was glued to his television set throughout Sunday's clash, averred:

"After Souvik's [Chakrabarti] red card in extra-time, it felt like we had let another title slip once again. It hasn't been easy to be the butt of all the jokes for all these years and it felt like the drought would continue. But maybe that kind of drama makes you feel alive."

And there was no doubt that the Red and Gold Brigade were pumped back to life when Cleiton Silva, without his unrivaled tenacity, slammed home the winner in the 111th minute.

Against the tallest stacked odds, when it looked the unlikeliest, the Kolkata Giants scripted a miracle for the history books. Sandipan Dhar, another supporter of the Red and Gold Brigade, added:

"We fought like a bunch of warriors who's life were at stake. And yes, as a matter of fact, it was. The taste of losing the Durand Cup final was still on our lips. But after the final whistle when we finally broke the curse after 12 years, I was running around the house like a kid. It was all like a dream."

Football, which renders an idealistic fragment of the circus called 'life', is often a great leveler. A stage where Hollywood-esque redemption arcs play out in real life.

For East Bengal fans, after years of let-down, their mother club has finally turned a page. While the euphoria is electric, the challenge would be to channel these profound emotions into building a historic era.