Mohun Bagan defeated East Bengal, their arch-rivals in the derby, 1-0 in the 2023 Durand Cup final to claim their 17th trophy. A 71st moment Dimi Petratos objective was enough for Bagan, who played with 10 individuals for simply under thirty minutes.
Petratos objective came contrary to the rules. Ten minutes beforehand Anirudh Thapa had been shipped off subsequent to getting a second yellow for an unfortunate test on Javier Siverio, and East Bengal had assumed total command over the match. This was a period wherein EB had their most obvious opportunity with regards to the match, Cleiton Silva driving Vishal Kaith into a plunging save with a preview from the edge of the case. The second half was clearly heading toward EB’s, whereas the first half had been a dull affair with only one shot each, neither of which got near the target. However, the great work was scattered by some fairly conditional safeguarding.
Petratos took up the ball somewhere down in the EB half prior to running forward on the counter. Petratos raced forward while the EB defense and midfield inexplicably stood in front of him, dropping deeper and deeper. Taking the undeniable greeting he toe-jabbed a strong drive at objective, which took a slight diversion off protector Jose Pardo and flew well wide of a plunging Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
EB appeared to lose all composure following the goal’s completion. Straightforward passes were lost, spills finished in parkways and as Bagan stuffed the focal point of the field they tracked down little happiness down the center. A rehashed design from that second on, including the ten extra minutes that were played toward the end, was somebody in a red and yellow shirt drifting in innocuous cross after innocuous cross straight under the control of Kaith. Harmanjot Khabra, Nishu Kumar, Mandar Rao Desai – every accomplished head – were the essential blameworthy gatherings.
Bagan basically hung tight, rode their karma on events (particularly when Nandhakumar Shekar sent an open header directly at Kaith from four yards out), and stayed composed as their rivals lost theirs.
