Captain Silva leads from the front to fire East Bengal to momentous win over Mohun Bagan in frantic Kolkata derby | Kalinga Super Cup 2024

A brace from captain Cleiton Silva and a simple tap-in from Nandhakumar Sekar ensured that East Bengal beat their cross-town rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giant 3-1 in their final Group A fixture in the Kalinga Super Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday.

This win also ensured that East Bengal went through to the semifinals of the Super Cup, knocking the Mariners out of the competition. When the teams had last met, in the final of the Durand Cup earlier this season, the Mariners had defeated East Bengal 1-0.

Strangely enough, it was Mohun Bagan who opened the scoring on Friday, with a fantastic backheel from Hector Yuste finding the back of the East Bengal net in the 19th minute.

The Torchbearers, however, responded strongly to the setback and fired three goals to make sure that the Mariners had no chance of coming back.

Cleiton Silva started East Bengal's comeback

Nandhakumar Sekar was one of the stars for East Bengal on Friday.

Skipper Cleiton Silva started the scoring off with a brilliant right-footed shot in the 24th minute.

Although he was marked tightly by Raj Basfore and Brendan Hammill, the Brazilian still managed to find some space to get his shot wide of goalkeeper Anwer Sheikh.

The first half, however, ended on a controversial note as Hijazi Maher found himself conceding a penalty while trying to lunge and protect a shot inside the box.

Although Dimitri Petratos put the resultant spot-kick away, the referee was not satisfied and decreed that it had to be taken again.

In the re-take, however, the Australian hit the upright and Armando Sadiku ran the rebound wide as the scoreline remained at 1-1.

East Bengal dominated proceedings in the second half

Brendan Hammill and Hijazi Maher going for the ball in the derby.

The second half started well but East Bengal were the stronger of the two sides. Although the Mariners tried their best to wrest possession out of the Torchbearer's hands, they were seldom successful in doing so.

Borja Herrera reinforced East Bengal's supremacy when a curler of his was evaded by Sheikh in the 63rd minute. Fortunately, Nandhakumar was lurking nearby to tap it in.

Mohun Bagan's woes were compounded further when East Bengal skipper Silva latched onto a loose ball from a corner in the 80h minute to bag his second of the night.

The game was talked up immensely by both sets of supporters, who made the nine-hour journey from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar to cheer for their respective clubs. It was, however, the Red and Golden Brigade who ended up the happier of the two.

East Bengal will next face Jamshedpur FC in the semifinals of the Kalinga Super Cup on Wednesday, January 24.