Bengaluru FC– 2 (Siva Sakthi 10’ Alan Costa 61’) Mumbai City FC- 1 (Apuia 30’)
Kolkata, Sunday, September 18, 2022:

Bengaluru FC (BFC) and their talisman and captain Sunil
Chhetri won their first ever IndianOil Durand Cup, overcoming Mumbai City FC (MCFC) by the odd
goal in three, in an exciting final of the 131st edition, played here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati
Krirangan (VYBK). Siva Sakthi and Brazilian Alan Costa scored for the winners while Apuia got the
lone goal for MCFC in what was a fine display of end-to-end football.
The Islanders did get a free-kick in the very first minute of the game but it was The Blues who took an
early lead in the 10th minute of the game through a fifth tournament goal by Siva Sakthi.
The long ball was delivered from deep in the BFC defense by Jovanovic, which put Mourtada Fall under
pressure with Siva on his shoulder. The Senegalese defender was in the end foxed by the bounce and
Siva pounced on it with a measured chip over the keeper.
After Chhangte had the first chance for the Islandersin the 17th minute, they got the equalizer at the halfhour mark when Sandesh Jhingan gave away a free-kick in a dangerous zone.
Ahmed Jahouh played on Greg Stewart, who went on one of his runs and took a left-footed grounder
towards goal which Gurpreet fended off. Apuia was at hand though and tapped home the rebound with
ease.
The Blues then almost went ahead in the 38th minute, when off a Roshan Singh corner a rebound fell for
Roy Krishna and he shot towards goal, but Chhangte brought off a miraculous goal-line save.
Vinit Rai then had a chance after being played on by Stewart but shot over from close and the only other
notable incident of the half was the match’s first yellow card for Mourtada Fall, the Mumbai captain,
who had a forgettable 45-minutes.
The game maintained its intensity in the second. Five minutes in and Jahouh delivered a measured long
ball which fell for Chhangte who did well to get away from two BFC defenders, but with just the keeper
to beat, the tournament highest scorer shot over.
BFC then got ahead for the second and final time in the game, when off a Sunil Chhetri corner aimed at
the far post, Brazilian Alan Costa jumped highest and nailed a header into the back of the MCFC net. He
was subsequently replaced by BFC coach Simon Grayson and replaced by Parag Shrivas.
MCFC coach Des Buckingham then played his cards, bringing in Mehtab and Ripoll in place of Vinit
Rai and Ripoll. A while later in the 74th minute he also brought in Gurkirat for Apuia.
Grayson in response affected a triple change bringing in Rohit Kumar, Udanta Khumam and Hira
Mondal in the 79th minute in place of Roshan Singh, Prabir Das and Jayesh Rane.
The most notable chance for Mumbai came through Spanish midfielder Ripoll in the 77th minute when
he went on a solo run from midfield and unleashed a booming drive which beat Gurpreet but struck the
left upright and came back.
Captain Sunil Chhetri also had a couple of golden opportunities to score, once in the 69th minute, when
his left-footed strike missed the target and then again in the 87th when he was one on one with the keeper,
but Lachenpa was up to it and brought off a great save.
With six minutes of time added on, Mumbai did give it one final shot and Greg Stewart came close in
the 94th minute, but his effort was also just wide.
The Blues in the end had done enough for a seventh national title win.