Fatorda (Goa), March 18 – ATK Mohun Bagan kept their nerves in a tight Indian Super League (ISL) final as they drew 4-0 on penalties at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday. 3 Beat Bengaluru FC to claim the ISL title.
In a game that ended 2-2 in regulation, ATKMB’s Dimitri Petratos saved all of the previous night from Vishal Keith’s penalty from Bruno Ramirez in the shootout. Three penalties brought them one step closer. FC Bengaluru’s Pablo Perez then fired his penalty over the bar as the Mariners sealed the result in a game they had upset FC Bengaluru from the start.
Bengaluru FC were forced to field Chhetri early on after Sivasakthi Narayanan was stretchered off in the opening seconds of the game. Things went off plan in the 13th minute when Krishna handled the ball from a Petratos corner when ATKMB was awarded a penalty. Petratos got the job done from the spot to give his side the lead. ATKMB used this advantage to put pressure on Bengaluru FC, who had picked up a plethora of yellow cards on the pitch, including one to manager Simon Grayson.
But they were awarded a penalty in the final minute of first-half stoppage time when Subhasish Bose missed the ball and made contact with Roy Krishna in an attempted clearance. Chhetri stepped forward and sent Vishal Kaith the wrong way to restore par.
In the final period of the game, Rohit Kumar’s shot from the edge of the box created a series of corners before Krishna deflected at the far post – the striker headed home in the 78th minute.
But five minutes later, the game was restored to a draw. On the edge of the FC Bengaluru box, Kiyan Nassiri went down with a nudge from Pablo Perez as ATKMB won their second penalty of the night. Petratos scored again.
In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Asish Rai’s shot in the penalty area was saved by Prabil Das from the bottom line. Moments later, Coraco and Nasiri nearly combined to score, but Bruno Ramirez provided a crucial interception as the game went into extra time.
In extra time, Udanta Singh and Rohit failed to capitalize on their chances to hit the target, while Manvir fired a shot wide for ATKMB from a few yards out. Sandu saved Petratos’ long-range shot towards the end of extra time, but before the game went to penalties, Petratos’s corner bounced and did nothing.
Golden Glove winner Keith stood up for his side for the second game in a row in a tense penalty shoot-out and no one missed a penalty in a game that was decided by penalties. As the winner, ATKMB took home INR 60 crore while runners-up Bengaluru FC took home INR 2.5 million.
–IANS
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