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This game was hyped, dubbed as the clash of champions, and in the end it was the I-League champions Chennai City FC who came out on top, beating Bengaluru FC 2-1 in the first quarterfinal of the Super Cup 2019, at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
Goals from Nestor Gordillo and Pedro Manzi put Chennai City in command, before Sunil Chhetri reduced the arrears with a header off a Dimas Delgado corner. In the end, though, Chennai City just about held on, and booked a place in the semifinal, where they'll face the winners of the clash between FC Goa and Jamshedpur FC.
Here are the biggest points of discussion from the game.
Note: All images used in this piece are from the AIFF's Twitter Account @IndianFootball
#1 Mauro Boerchio's heroic performance
Chennai City, right from the first whistle, were under a lot of pressure, with the Bengaluru FC attackers getting into some good positions.
Xisco Hernandez and Dimas Delgado were pulling the strings in midfield, and Bengaluru had plenty of chances. The Chennai City 'keeper Mauro Boerchio, though, was having one of that.
He made several superb saves, and put the cherry on the cake by denying Sunil Chhetri from the penalty spot, with a superb save diving to his right.
Boerchio made a save off a Chhetri header and a Miku piledriver in the first half as well, ensuring Chennai City went into half-time with their lead intact.
In the second half, he topped it. Eight minutes into the half, he stopped Chhetri's penalty, then made a few superb saves to deny Udanta Singh and Chhetri on multiple occasions.
Bengaluru got into superb attacking areas in the second half, with the crosses working a charm for them, up until the final shot, which went awry.
Boerchio's best save of the game came off a Dimas header, after Chhetri's superb lob played the Spanish midfielder in. His flicked header was bound for the top corner, but Boerchio flew to his left and tipped it over.
He also denied Chhetri again late on, after a superb cut-back from Rahul Bheke was met sweetly by Chhetri, only to be denied by Boerchio.
#2 Chennai City's Spanish Armada is as fearsome as ever
Throughout the 90 minutes under the Kalinga Stadium lights, Pedro Manzi was largely kept quiet by Juanan Gonzalez, who was the rock that he often is, for Bengaluru.
But a player like Manzi only needs one moment to light up a game, and in this game again, he had that one moment. A superb long ball from Sandro Rodriguez was brought down by Manzi, after Harmanjot Khabra missed his interception, but he still had so much work to do after that.
He was faced one-on-one by Bheke, but he got it onto his right foot, used Bheke as the guide, and curled it around him to give Gurpreet Singh Sandhu no chance in the Bengaluru goal.
Nestor, too, proved how good he is, with the one moment he had in front of goal. He was a bit lucky in the ball reaching when it never should have, as Bheke and Khabra left it for each other to deal with, and the ball rolled through to Nestor, who made no mistake when one-on-one with Gurpreet.
Against Goa's Spaniards or Jamshedpur's Spaniards in the semifinal, it will absolutely be no surprise if Chennai City's Spaniards come out as the ones on top.
#3 Bengaluru will rue missed chances
Before we talk about the chances that Bengaluru FC missed on the day, it is only fair to say that Bengaluru were extremely lucky that they finished the game with eleven players on the pitch.
Harmanjot Khabra should've been sent off for a studs-up challenge to the shin of 'keeper Mauro Boerchio. Khabra was also lucky to not gain a caution in the very first minute for a stray arm in the face of Nestor.
But, once they got lucky with that, Bengaluru really will be kicking themselves for not taking the chances they created, which were enough to hand Chennai City a thrashing, and not just win the game.
Chhetri missed a penalty, Xisco Hernandez missed an absolute sitter while one-on-one with Boerchio, Udanta put in a few stray crosses despite being in superb positions. Boithang Haokip and Nishu Kumar made some awful decisions in the final third as well. which Bengaluru will rue.
In the end, though, Bengaluru will leave Bhubaneswar knowing that they have nobody else but themselves to blame for what was an insipid show in front of goal.
#4 Chennai City's young Indian rearguard stands tall
At 26, Edwin Sydney Vanspaul was the senior statesman in the Chennai City rearguard. In Gaurav Bora, Tarif Akhand and Ajithkumar Kamaraj, there were three defenders aged 18, 19 and 20.
Now, keep that in mind and consider the opposition they were up against - Chhetri, Udanta and Miku. It's the kind of challenge that a lot of young, inexperienced players could easily wilt under, but not this Chennai City side - not under Akbar Nawas's watch.
Gaurav Bora stood tall in the middle, he won every header he had to, he was superb while defending set-pieces, which Bengaluru are so dangerous from, and he led the line superbly. Tarif was not to be left far behind.
But it was Ajithkumar's performance that caught the eye the most. The young man was in all sorts of trouble against Udanta's pace in the first half, as Bengaluru kept fashioning chances from their right flank, but after the break, Ajithkumar was a totally different player.
He was aggressive in the tackle against Udanta, he matches the Bengaluru winger's speed, and he was superb in the face of all the Bengaluru pressure in the second half.
#5 One double dream dead, the other rolls on
Bengaluru FC have lived up to their pattern - they just cannot seem to win more than one trophy a season. Well, most clubs would take a strike rate of one trophy per year, but the Blues really will be wondering what they have to do to go that extra mile and have a multiple-trophy season.
Chennai City, on the other hand, are two games away from their own double. They will now go on to face FC Goa or Jamshedpur FC in the semifinal, and they will not fear anybody - not after the season that they've had.
Chennai City will hope that influential midfielder Sandro Rodriguez hasn't done any lasting damage to his hamstring after he appeared to be struggling with a bit of a problem in the second half.
The Spanish front three is such a big factor in Chennai City's success, so they would want to ensure that they can keep the three together, and go on to win another trophy in what has been their season of dreams!
