Indian Super Cup 2018 Final: East Bengal fans upset as Gurpreet Singh gets away with a yellow card for raised foot

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Bengaluru FC could have received an early red card, something that the East Bengal fans rued quite a lot.

What’s the story?

While Bengaluru FC emerged as the winners of the first-ever Super Cup against Kolkata giants East Bengal, the fans of the Red and Gold brigade have taken to their Twitter accounts to express their rage against some of the refereeing decisions during the match.

In case you didn’t know…

Goals from Rahul Bheke, Miku and a brace from captain fantastic Sunil Chhetri, helped the Southern Eagles conquer the finale of the inaugural edition of the Super Cup as they were crowned the champions against East Bengal.

This is the fifth trophy for Albert Roca’s men in the duration of the last five years, as BFC clinched the Hero Super Cup, becoming the first ever winners of the tournament.

The heart of the matter

The action took place at Odisha's Kalinga Stadium as 10-man East Bengal failed in their endeavours to contain BFC. However, EB fans seem to be highly upset with the match official of the finale fixture this afternoon. 

A certain tackle from Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu on East Bengal striker Ansumana Kromah was a hot topic of resentment that stirred an outrage among the fans of the team from Kolkata on Twitter.

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Gurpreet Singh could have been sent

of

for a raised foot on Kromah. (Photo: Screenshot)

Kromah broke away from the Bengaluru defenders, chasing an aerial through ball from midfield, as he was closely followed by Bengaluru centreback John Johnson. Seeing that the East Bengal forward had managed to get behind the defence, Gurpreet charged out of his area and went in for a tackle.

However, he left his foot high in the air, and even managed to place his studs on Kromah's arm (as seen in the picture), which needed some treatment later on.

Despite the raised foot, however, the referee only gave Gurpreet a yellow card, something that seemed to have irked both the East Bengal players and fans alike.

Following is a string of Tweets from fans who expressed their unhappiness on social media...

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Who is this idiot European commentator ? This nerd is saying that it would have been harsh if @GurpreetGK was shown red card for kicking Kromah at his arm.@ProbasheEB @ebultras1920 @masefield2110 @menezeshenry @TheFalseNo9 @ChiranjitOjha @StarFootball @StarSportsIndia pic.twitter.com/JqlNOhjaQz

— EAST BENGAL the REAL POWER (@EBRPFC) April 20, 2018

Harsh really harsh, but how come a ref from Southern Zone officiates a final where a team from South & East are locking horns. AIFF rocks. @IndianFootball #KEBvBFC pic.twitter.com/YMbc5E8uNw

— Suvadeep Basu (@Basu2388) April 20, 2018

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The ball was no where near to the arm of Kromah & @GurpreetGK simply kicked Kromah as in kick boxing & that IMGR fed European commentator @masefield2110 was too scared to speak anything against ISL club for fear of not getting a call in the next season@menezeshenry @TheFalseNo9

— EAST BENGAL the REAL POWER (@EBRPFC) April 20, 2018

Gutted , Disgusted.... In a final game first Referee denied us a genuine red card at the start of the game then Samad did a stupid stupid Stupid thing to spoil our execellent momentum.

So many poor decisions in a single game..... @eastbengalfc #KEBvBFC #HeroSuperCup

— LFC for Life (@roy_aniket) April 20, 2018

If this is not a red card I dont know what on earth will be ??? disgusting refereeing ..... this referee has taken a big advantage from us on a big ocassion. @bengalurufc @eastbengalfc #HeroSuperCup #KEBvBFC

— LFC for Life (@roy_aniket) April 20, 2018

What’s next?

While the East Bengal fans seem devastated post the result, they must move past this and continue to back their team in this time of need. It is time for Bengaluru FC to now shift their focus onto the group stages of the AFC Cup amid their Super Cup celebrations.

Author’s take

While poor decisions from the referee can be understandably frustrating from the stands, there is not much that can be done about the way things unfolded for East Bengal. Regardless of the red cards, or handballs, or un-penalised fouls, Bengaluru FC clearly were the better side out of the two and displayed some great football for the fans to watch; while on the other hand, due credit must be given to Khalid’s men – who indeed put up a strong fight.

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