ISL 2023-24 final review: Mumbai City relishes sweet revenge over Mohun Bagan

Success in sports depends on a lot of things, such as the quality of players, their form, and fan support. But, on matchday, it narrows down to the most fundamental factor in the game: whoever plays better wins.

Mumbai City FC taught Mohun Bagan Super Giant, to which it had lost 1-2 in the final game of the ISL League stage, to relinquish the Winners Shield, a lesson in just that, beating it 3-1 in the Indian Super League (ISL) final at the Salt Lake Stadium on May 4.

Mumbai, having done better homework about its opponent, executed its plan to perfection and pulled off a comeback win over the Mariners to stun a 62,000-strong crowd, most of whom were Mohun Bagan fans. The Bagan supporters, who had taken two hours to fill the stadium, started making their way for the exit after Mumbai’s second goal — Bipin Singh’s strike in the 81st minute — and, within 20 minutes of full-time, the stadium was near-empty.

The presentation ceremony took place with a handful of Mumbai fans cheering from the stands, waving scarves of the West Coast Brigade, the team’s official fan club.

The Islanders began the match on the offensive, but the host drew first blood. Against the run of play, Dimitri Petratos, Mohun Bagan’s hero in last season’s final (scoring both goals), shot from distance, but the attempt was saved by Mumbai goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa, only for Jason Cummings to tap the ball in on the follow-up.

Mumbai’s comeback began in the second half, with the equaliser arriving within eight minutes of the restart. Jorge Pereyra Diaz received Alberto Noguera’s long ball, beat his marker, Manvir Singh, and squeezed it in from a narrow angle.

Antonio Lopez Habas, Mohun Bagan’s head coach, would later reflect, “Normally, we are a team that continuously attacks and defends. But today, when we attacked, the defence lacked, and vice versa. This was a problem for us.”

Bipin, who scored the winning goal against Mohun Bagan (then called ATK Mohun Bagan) in the ISL final three years ago, continued to be the Mariners’ nemesis, converting a pullback from Jakub Vojtus to double Mumbai’s tally.

Vojtus put the competition to bed in the second-half injury time when he scored his first goal for the Islanders, with Mumbai shattering the treble-winning hopes of Mohun Bagan, which won the Durand Cup and the Shield this season.

With the win, Mumbai became the most successful team in the league, with two Shields and as many ISL trophies. It was also sweet revenge for the side. “I think the key to success was because we were very down when we lost here [against Bagan] because we wanted to play in Asia. But our strength has been figuring out why we lost, and we just ensured it doesn’t happen again,” Petr Kratky, Mumbai’s head coach, said.

Kratky’s tactical masterpiece

Kratky stated that his team had been passive in the Shield decider but planned to be more aggressive in the ISL final. It was clear from the start that Mumbai City and he meant business. “If you watch the game, we were better in the first half. Yeah, we conceded a goal because Mohun Bagan is a quality team, but our approach today was totally different than two weeks ago, and the boys executed it to get rewarded,” Kratky said. Mumbai deployed Rahul Bheke and Mehtab Singh as two full-backs to counter Mohun Bagan’s wing play in its 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation, with Manvir and Liston Colaco playing as wingbacks.

While in possession, Jayesh Rane and Noguera tried to find the overlapping runs of Vikram Partap Singh and Lallianzuala Chhangte. As Joni Kauko and Deepak Tangri of Mohun Bagan tried to close down Pereyra Diaz, Vikram kept barging into the box to find gaps in the Mariners’ defence.

Close to the half-hour mark, Mumbai City almost got a penalty when Nogeura’s cross for Vikram in the Mohun Bagan box hit Hector Yuste’s hand—an incident referee R. Venkatesh failed to spot.

When out of possession, Lalengmawia Ralte, who was adjudged Player of the Match in the final, worked as an additional defender in front of the back-four, while Thaer Krouma denied Petratos any space in the final third.

Petratos’ first shot on target came from way outside the box, which led to Cummings beating Tiri to score on the follow-up. Kratky’s substitutions were clinical too. Mumbai’s high press, especially in temperatures over 36°C, posed a risk of cramps, and Diaz, Nogeura, and Rane were all off before the last quarter. The three players who replaced them, Bipin, Vojtus, and Vinit Rai, made significant contributions to Mumbai’s win.

“We know how it feels when we’re losing, but then we have two choices: to give up or keep pushing to get rewarded. This is my message for my team: believe and stick together because this is a powerful thing,” Kratly explained.

Mohun Bagan’s nightmare

Habas, the most successful head coach in the ISL, had faced Mumbai City in the 2020-21 final, with Mumbai winning 2-1.

Before the 2023–24 final, he had talked about completing a circle, trying to beat the Islanders in what could be his ‘last phase of coaching’.

In the match, however, nothing clicked for Mohun Bagan. Petratos was relatively quiet (he had only one shot in the game), and Manvir’s progressive passes were limited, with him creating only one chance.

Habas, after the loss, pointed out fatigue and the suspension of forward Armando Sadiku as possible reasons for the loss.

”Maybe, we’ve played too many finals to win this match,” Habas said.

Sadiku, having joined Mohun Bagan last summer, had 11 goals and an assist in all competitions but remained suspended in the final for breaching the All India Football Federation Code of Conduct. A physically imposing forward, Sadiku’s exploits in breaking the press could have been a panacea to Mohun Bagan’s misery, according to the Spaniard.

“I think Armando is more aggressive than Jason (Cummings) or Dimi (Dimitri Petratos). That allows good possibility (space) for other guys to play. In football, we can’t change history,” Habas conceded.

Kolkata derby sub-plot

Football in Kolkata barely extends beyond the gamut of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, the biggest clubs in the city. The ISL final was no different, and when the Islanders won against a familiar rival, they found a friend in East Bengal.

In fact, the player who captained Mumbai to victory is also a former East Bengal player, Rahul Bheke.

So is Mehtab Singh, who celebrated the win with Jamuna Das, better known as Lozenge Mashi, an ardent East Bengal fan who had come in Mumbai’s colours — blue and white — at the Salt Lake Stadium.

After the match, two members of East Bengal also greeted Bheke with sweets, celebrating the victory.

The 10th season of the ISL saw the highest number of teams in the league’s history so far and delivered some mouth-watering clashes over 139 matches, including the rise of some Indian youngsters like Vikram, Jay Gupta, and Abhishek Suryavanshi. That Mumbai City, which won the title, had over 55 per cent of its goals scored by Indians augurs well for the future of the sport in the country.