 |
| Courtesy: SportstarWeb |
Mohun Bagan Super Giant's Sahal Abdul Samad made his long awaited return from injury tonight at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) and guided his team to the ISL 2023-2024 season final with a match-winning goal at the added-time after the regular 90 minutes was played.
The iconic Vivekanand Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), also known as the Salt Lake Stadium, packed house today to cheer for their Green and Maroon army in their 2nd-leg semi-final match against Odisha FC.
Coming into the match, Mohun Bagan Super Giant were trailing in the match after the 1st-leg 2-1 to Odisha FC at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Mohun Bagan needed not only a win but to score atleast 2 goals to win the match going into the penalty shootout.
And it started positive for the hosts as Green and Maroon's Jason Cummings put Mohun Bagan into the lead in the match with a goal at the 22nd minute, pouncing into the fumbled clearance from Odisha's goalkeeper Amrinder Singh. This goal ensured Mohun Bagan are back on level-term, with 2-2 in aggregate.
The match remained an intense action-packed throughout the 90 minutes where the the hosts mainly dominated the first 45 minutes while Odisha FC led the charge in the 2nd-half, but unable to find the back of the net.
But, after the regular 90 minutes of action concluded, 7 minutes of additional-time was into the game. And that when Sahal Abdul Samad put Mohun Bagan into the lead in the match and also in the tie over the two-legs.
Sahal Abdul Samad made his return from injury and came onto the field at the 72nd minute in place of Anirudh Thapa. And at the 3rd minute of the additional-time, Sahal Abdul Samad pounced onto Amrinder Singh failing to clear the ball and Sahal just guided the ball into the nets and helped Mohun Bagan lead the match 2-0 and lead 3-2 on aggregate.
However, Odisha FC's goalkeeper and captain Amrinder Singh was not very and demanded that Sahal handed the ball and demanded for a free-kick in their favour. However, replays showed that rather than his hand, the ball hit on Sahal Abdul Samad's head.
The ball hit Sahal Abdul Samad's head and it clearly wasn't a handball pic.twitter.com/SI0G3eNYnt
— Indian Football News (@IndianF36495051) April 28, 2024
With this win for the Mohun Bagan Super Giant, they have now qualified for back-to-back final of the Indian Super League (ISL). After winning the final beating Bengaluru FC in 2022-2023 season, they have now qualified for the final once again, which will be played at their home in Kolkata on the 4th May, against either of Mumbai City FC or FC Goa, the winner of the 2nd semi-final.
0 Comments