MBSG 2-2 MCFC: Mohun Bagan's 'stupid mistakes' vs Mumbai City in ISL 2024-25 opener show past is not past 

An equalizer in the 90th minute. A ‘Siu’ celebration. A stunned home crowd. A thrilling comeback in pounding rains. The ISL 2024-25 opener had all the drama and fluctuating fortunes you’d associate with the Mohun Bagan SG-Mumbai City FC rivalry that is increasingly becoming box office.

The hosts looked all set to bag full three points and get past the reigning ISL Cup winners for only the second time in the league's history. But the Islanders aren’t one to throw in the towel. After all, no team netted more second-half goals than Mumbai City last season. Syrian defender Thaer Krouma came off the bench and got on the scoresheet within five minutes to break Mohun Bagan's hearts.

Coach Petr Kratky must be credited for his bold substitutions, though. The second half started slowly, with the work rate and urgency from the first period missing. Jayesh Rane, who was making frequent runs into the box, sometimes overlapping the electric Bipin Singh, was taken off. New signing Noufal PN was thrown in. And there was suddenly an injection of more pace on the left flank.

This was after the Islanders lost their marquee signing Jon Toral to an injury scare in the 41st minute.

“Jon flagged some tightness in his leg, so it was precautionary to take him out. Players are humans, and we need to protect them. We are very proud of our communication with them, and their honesty helps us move forward. Toral didn’t feel 100 percent, so we substituted him with Jeremy Manzorro,” Petr Kratky said in the post-match press conference

With 70 minutes on the clock, Mohun Bagan’s two-goal lead was still protected. But the Mariners’ defense is to be never taken for granted, especially after what transpired in the 2024 Durand Cup final. Noufal received a short corner and curled it in towards Nikolaos Karelis. The 32-year-old failed to meet it cleanly but, amid a logjam of bodies, Tiri unfurled a roundhouse kick to find the back of the net. The former Bagan defender completed his redemption after conceding an own goal in the ninth minute.

The pullback came against the run of play. But the flow was to shift. Suddenly, Mumbai City had a foot in the door of the home party. And they were to seamlessly change gears.

In the first half, Mumbai City had just one shot on target and three from inside the box. The respective numbers swelled to six and nine at the end of the match. Tellingly, Mohun Bagan failed to register either in the second period. They lacked penetration through the wings, especially after Liston Colaco was withdrawn right after Mumbai’s opener.

Yes, Asish Rai had left-back Sahil Panwar on high alert. Yes, Dimitrios Petratos and Jason Cummings were chasing balls and trying to get behind Munbai’s backline. But while Rai’s passes lacked precision, the Australian internationals clearly looked off the pace. The fact that they had more final third entries – 32 to Mumbai’s 28 – clarified the same. Mohun Bagan’s problems were compounded by Alberto Rodriguez going off in the 81st minute due to an injury. The Spanish defender had recovered just in time for the ISL opener after getting injured in the Durand final.

“It was more a precautionary move because we didn’t want the injury to aggravate. But it’s nothing serious,” Mohun Bagan head coach Jose Molina clarified after the match.

At the other end, Bipin Singh and Noufal were charging up and down the left wing; skipper Lallianzuala Chhangte was dropping deep in a creative role and also maneuvering in and around the six-yard area to get a shot away.

With five minutes remaining, Kratky made a triple substitution. Out came Brandon Fernandes, Vikram Partap Singh, and Krouma. It was a bold call to take off Bipin, who looked the most threatening; Manzorro, who was subbed in only in the 41st minute; and Karelis, Mumbai’s new No. 9.

Even the thudding sound of torrential rain faded in the face of the noisy partisan crowd who started feeling secure in the thought of a win to kickstart the new season.

“The first thing was we needed to improve in the second half. The second point was, we don’t give up and we don’t deserve to be two-nil down. We have the squad and we have the quality to come back. The talk was to keep working hard and not give up until the last minute,” Kratky said of his team talk at the break.

Noufal took on Anirudh Thapa – on for Abhishek Suryavanshi – and comfortably beat him in pace. The ex-Gokulam Kerala man darted to the byline and cut the ball back towards the center of the box with his weaker left foot. Krouma, who had come up the field, met it first time and slotted it into the bottom right corner past Vishal Kaith's outstretched palm. The 34-year-old ran to the corner flag and celebrated like how Cristiano Ronaldo would’ve in ‘Fergie Time’.

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"We are not at the same level as Mumbai City FC" - Mohun Bagan coach Jose Molina

It was the third stalemate in 11 meetings between the two teams in ISL

On match eve, Jose Molina insisted that Mohun Bagan’s shambolic head-to-head record against Mumbai City was history. And they seemed to walk the talk as the 11th ISL season got underway at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday, September 13.

Following the Spaniard’s playbook, the Mariners started on the offensive from the word go. Mumbai, for a change, looked clueless and one-dimensional. Their sole modus operandi was feeding the wingers, who then tried to cross into the middle to find Karelis. And they almost succeeded. Bipin’s ball went long and found Chhangte, who laid it across to an unmarked Toral. The Arsenal youth academy player’s goal-bound shot was touched home by Bipin but from an offside position.

With all the talk before the match about Mumbai’s wing play, it was Liston Colaco who stole the thunder. The India international dribbled past Valpuia and squared it across the face of the goal. Goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa dived to parry the low cross but, the ball bounced right in front of him, took a deflection, and went into the net off Tiri’s chest.

Mumbai nearly equalized almost immediately. Along the lines of their mode of attack, Chhangte this time found the head of Karelis at the far post, but the Greek forward headed it marginally wide.

Referee Harish Kunda brandished the first yellow card of the match in the 25th minute. Vishal Kaith lifted it towards Ashish Rai on the right but a charging Jayesh Rane came and headbutted the Bagan defender on the floor. The Sikkim man took his revenge after just three minutes. Cummings latched on to a corner kick, which Mumbai failed to clear, and passed it back to Rai. The 25-year-old swung it into the box and found Greg Stewart, who headed it into the feet of Alberto Rodriguez for a half-volley drilled home.

With Karelis looking rusty, the wingers tried to take it upon themselves but failed to hit the target. Only one out of Mumbai's six shots was on target in the first half. The Bagan defenders also stood up to the task.

Apuia did a good job marking Bipin on the left, while Subhasish Bose was gladiatorial against Chhangte on the right. The Mohun Bagan captain won three ground duels and as many aerial ones, and wasn’t dribbled past even once. Dippendu Biswas, playing only his eighth match for the senior side, did a fabulous job too – three clearances and a passing accuracy of 90 percent.

But all of the good work in the first half went up in smoke by the end of the match. Mohun Bagan lost for the first time in 34 matches after taking a lead of two or more goals. It was probably complacency or pre-season exhaustion.

“To be honest, we’re not at the same level as Mumbai City FC. They had a better pre-season because they did not play in the Durand Cup. They had the same coach from last year, which is an advantage for them. I’m a new coach, and for a team to adapt to any new coach, there is a process, and mistakes are made. We made some stupid mistakes in that moment of the match.

"But the truth is, we don’t have much time to make mistakes. We have to play better and defend better to win matches. Of course, at this moment I’m upset. I’m working every day with my players to avoid conceding goals. We have to focus on that, keep working, stay positive, and hopefully, in the next matches, we will play better,” Molina elaborated.

Past is not past, then, after all.

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