ATK Mohun Bagan progressed to its maiden Indian Super League final with a 2-1 (3-2 aggregate score) victory over NorthEast United FC. Goals from David Williams and Manvir Singh were enough for Mohun Bagan to ease past NorthEast United into the finals. VP Suhair scored a consolation goal in the 74th minute for NorthEast United FC to make the scoreline 2-1. ATK Mohun Bagan will now face Mumbai City FC in the ISL 2020-21 Final. This was the first loss for NEUFC under Khalid Jamil.
PREVIEW
The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw after a late equaliser from Idrissa Sylla. ATK Mohun Bagan made two changes coming into this leg with Sandesh Jhingan and Tiri returning to the starting line-up. ATK opted to play a 4-4-2 against a NEUFC attacking formation of 4-3-3. NorthEast United FC made two changes from the first leg with Mashoor Shereef and Sylla taking the place of Nim Dorjee and Benjamin Lambot.
FIRST HALF
Mohun Bagan had the better of NorthEast from the start of the game. David Williams’s speculative strike followed by Javier Hernandez’s effort left the bar shaking. Tiri and Jhingan were both deployed by Habas to kept NEUFC in check. With Bagan dominating play, NorthEast did however manage to create a quality chance through Machado in the 23rd minute. A Brilliant bit of play followed by a neat curling shot from long range was saved by the Bagan goalkeeper.
ATKMB had 9 shots in the opening 10 minutes. They also had the majority of possession as well. Shortly after the first drinks break David Williams scored the opening goal of the game. Krishna played an accurate through ball into the path of Williams who dribbled past Mashoor to make it 1-0 for Bagan. The half ended with NEUFC failing to break down the best defensive side of this season.
SECOND HALF
NorthEast started the second half positively with a Suhair effort on goal brilliantly saved by Arindam. Machado also managed to pull one off in the 57th minute but the keeper punched it out. On the other hand Roy Krishna’s effort on goal was cleared off the line by Ashutosh Mehta. Bagan created more chances as Roy Krishna continued to find enough space in the NEUFC defence. Minutes later Krishna provided the assist for Manvir Singh to score the second goal of the day for Bagan. The Fijian found Manvir on the right flank and the Indian forward made it look easy sending the ball past Subhasish Roy Chowdhury to make it 2-0.
A disappointed NEUFC somehow managed to gain momentum after Suhair managed to score in the 75th minute after Arindam had made an error in the box. Following this NEUFC were awarded a penalty after Sylla was fouled inside the box by Subhasish Bose. However, Machado who took the spot-kick sent the ball wide into the stands. NorthEast failed to create any other chance in the remaining half of the game as Bagan managed to hold on to the lead.
What’s NEXT
The results leave the top two teams in table to fight it out for the trophy on Saturday the 13th March 2021. The result also means Bagan have now qualified for the group stages of the AFC Cup.
