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ISL 2017, Match 26: Bengaluru FC vs Chennaiyin FC, 5 Talking Points

Jeje Lalpekhlua scored the opening goal for Chennaiyin FC (Photo: ISL)

Chennaiyin FC became the first side to beat Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium this ISL season when John Gregory's men emerged 1-0 victors over their rivals in the Indian Super League on Sunday.

The visitors were rewarded for their dominating performance that managed to put an end to the Bengaluru juggernaut, who started the game as favourites to continue their winning run, in the local derby.

Jeje Lalpekhlua pounced on an opportunity in the 5th minute to put the visitors in front and Chennai never looked like conceding until the 85th minute when Sunil Chhetri's left foot sent the West Block Blues into a frenzy.

However, there was more late drama in the game and Chennaiyin grabbed the winner in the 88th minute when Dhanpal Ganesh headed home from a free-kick. The derby was fiercely contested between the sides ever since kick-off and things took a turn for the worse when the players got involved in a massive brawl at the end of the ninety minutes.

Here we take a look at the five key talking points from the game:


#1 Harmanjot Khabra escapes capital punishment

Khabra was saved by the referee's poor decisions (Photo: ISL)
Khabra was saved by the referee's poor decisions (Photo: ISL)

The Bengaluru FC right-back did not enjoy the best of games against his former side and was in fact, one of the luckiest players on the field. Khabra was constantly kept on his toes by Jude Nworuh and he lashed out an elbow at the Chennaiyin winger early on in the game to pick up a booking.

However, that was not all and the Bengaluru man was yet again involved in a reckless coming together with Jeje Lalpekhlua inside his team's penalty area and was really lucky to stay on the pitch. Chennaiyin, on the other hand, would have felt that they were robbed of a brilliant chance to put the game to bed early on.

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