That’s it for Scroll’s coverage of the ISL Final. Thank you for joining us.
For the second time, Mumbai City are the ISL Cup winners.
There was a different approach to the Mumbai team tonight compared to their performance in the final day of the league stage. There was more cohesion, more desire, and more chances created at goal.
But it was Mohun Bagan Super Giant who struck first against the run of play, through Jason Cummings. The visitors at the Salt Lake Stadium though did not get bogged down, and came back with three goals from Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Bipin Singh and Jakub Vojtus.
This caps off an impressive season for both teams.
Mohun Bagan won the Durand Cup earlier this season, and as the League Shield winners will play in the AFC Champions League 2 next year.
Mumbai City though, pick up the last piece of silverware available for this season.
Individual awards
Golden Glove: Phurba Lachenpa (Mumbai City)
Golden Boot: Dimitrios Diamantakos (Kerala Blasters)
Emerging Player: Vikram Partap Singh (Mumbai City)
Player of the Season: Dimitri Petratos (Mohun Bagan Super Giant)
FC Goa win the award for the best grassroots program. Bengaluru FC win the best elite youth development program.
Jamshedpur FC win the award for the best pitch this season.
Time for the post-season awards
THERE’S THE FINAL WHISTLE!
97 mins – MBSG 1-3 MCFC: GOAL FOR MUMBAI CITY! Viktor Vojtus, the January signing, scores his first goal for Mumbai City. On the counter with a number of bodies forward, Vojtus gets to a loose ball and plays a first-time shot. There's a deflection but the ball is in the goal. Surely, it's all over now for Mohun Bagan.
95 mins – MBSG 1-2 MCFC: What a chance that goes begging! Vikram Partap Singh, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, goes for the pass to Lallianzuala Chhangte. But the pass is overcooked. Chhangte does recycle the ball, but there were enough Bagan bodies back in defence to quell the danger. Will that missed chance haunt them?
95 mins – MBSG 1-2 MCFC: Mumbai has every player in their own half, Mohun Bagan has every outfield player in the opposition half. These last few minutes are getting frantic.
9 minutes of stoppage time
88 mins – MBSG 1-2 MCFC: Just a few minutes left, and Mohun Bagan have started to put forward as many bodies as possible, in search of the equaliser.
Bipin Singh had scored the winner in the 90th minute for Mumbai City when they won the title in 2021 against Mohun Bagan. Will his strike win them the title again?
81 mins – MBSG 1-2 MCFC: GOAL FOR MUMBAI CITY! Bipin Singh has scored an ISL final against Mohun Bagan once again. Clever build-up play for Mumbai, with quick passes between Vikram, Chhangte, Vojtus. And then it got sloppy. The defenders left Bipin unmarked, and when Vojtus' pass came to him, his first time shot was fluffed. But he had enough time to get a shot away.
62,007 spectators have come to watch this final at the Salt Lake Stadium
75 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: It's getting a bit cagey in the middle, but Mumbai City has arguably had a bit more possession in the past few minutes.
70 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: Jorge Pereyra Diaz, the goalscorer for Mumbai City, is also off now. He looked like he had been struggling for the past few minutes. But he's done well for his club tonight. Jakub Vojtus comes on for him. For the hosts, Sahal Abdul Samad comes on for Anirudh Thapa.
68 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: Alberto Noguero has to limp off, not a sight Mumbai City would want to see. The speedy Bipin Singh comes on for him. Just as the change is made though, Dimitri Petratos takes a wonderful corner kick that Hector Yuste gets a head to, only for the attempt to go over the bar.
65 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: Vikram Partap Singh gets the first yellow card of the final. Decent move by Mumbai City, but the young winger dove in the box trying to claim a foul, but the referee spotted it.
61 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: The game has opened up now, but Mumbai City has created two good chances in the past few minutes. Rahul Bheke probably should have done better. Well played routine from the corner by Mumbai, and Bheke had a clear shot at goal but he hits it wide.
54 mins – MBSG 1-1 MCFC: GOAL FROM MUMBAI CITY! There's the equalizer, and it comes from Jorge Pereyra Diaz. Alberto Noguera plays a beautiful ball from the middle of the pitch, lobbing it forward to find Diaz who had made an equally brilliant run. But Diaz was challenged by a defender and did just about enough to get ahead and slot past the goalkeeper.
50 mins – MBSG 1-0 MCFC: That goal has changed the Mohun Bagan Super Giant. From being on the backfoot through most of the first half, the hosts have been free-flowing in the first five minutes of the second half.
WE’RE OFF IN THE SECOND HALF!
Mumbai City were the better team in the first half, and should have probably taken the lead. Lallianzuala Chhangte hit the the post twice, and there should have been a penalty in favour of the visitors after Hector Yuste handled the ball in the box. But it wasn’t given.
Instead, Mohun Bagan Super Giant remained alert to sniff out chances, and that’s what Jason Cummings did in the 44th minute to hand the hosts the lead.
HALF-TIME!
43 mins – MBSG 1-0 MCFC: GOAL FOR MOHUN BAGAN SUPER GIANT! Against the run of play, Mohun Bagan Super Giant take the lead! And once again it's the two Australians who have combined to help the Kolkata team. Dimitri Petratos goes for a powerful long shot straight at Phurba Lachenpa. The goalkeeper though just pushed it back into play where Jason Cummings was first to react and he chips it over the goalkeeper to put the hosts in the lead.
42 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: It's taken a long time for Mohun Bagan to get break through the Mumbai defence. Liston Colaco made his way down the left, and from an acute angle tried to get a shot away but Phurba Lachenpa made a smart save.
39 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Lallianzuala Chhangte hits the post once again! Vikram Partap Singh races down the left and plays a low cross into Chhangte. The cross is a bit behind and Chhangte has to adjust his body to control. He gets a shot away but it gets a deflection off Subashish Bose before rattling the post.
31 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Lallianzuala Chhangte takes a freekick from the left flank, and what seemed like a deep cross hits the post.
28 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Mumbai City will feel hard done by. Handball in the box by Bagan defender Hector Yuste at the end of a Jorge Pereyra Diaz cross, but the referee waves play on. It should have been a penalty for the visitors there.
25 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Mumbai has started to hold more of the ball in the past few minutes, but the Bagan defence has been firm.
20 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Still no clear cut chances so far.
15 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: The game has started to open up slowly. Both teams have started to create chances that needed important interceptions from defenders to keep the scores unchanged.
10 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: It's been a cagey opening 10 minutes, but there have been a few glimpses of what these teams are capable off.
5 mins – MBSG 0-0 MCFC: Both teams are still finding their feet in this match in the early minutes. Both have managed to get a few forays into the opposition half, but nothing of note.
For the last time this season: WE’RE OFF!
The teams are out on the pitch. Kick-off imminent.
Hello and welcome to Scroll’s live coverage of the Indian Super League 2023-24 final between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Mumbai City FC from the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
Just last month, these two teams had locked horns in the League Shield decider at this very same venue. Eventually, Mohun Bagan Super Giant won a narrow match 2-1 to win the title by a solitary point.
Tonight, the best two teams of the league have come together to battle it out for the last piece of silverware this season.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant got to the final by overcoming a 1-2 deficit from the first leg of their semi-final against Odisha FC to eventually win 3-2 on aggregate. They had a change in coach in January, and their technical director – the serial winner Antonio Lopez Habas – took over the team and changed their fortunes in a title-winning run.
Similarly, Mumbai City too had to overcome a deficit in the semi-final. Albeit, the Islanders turned the tide of the semi-final fixtures around in the first leg itself, against FC Goa. Trailing 0-2 in Goa, Mumbai City scored three goals in a matter of seven minutes to take home a 3-2 lead going into the second leg, in a match that went down as one of the greatest games in Indian football history.
At home, they would eventually secure a 5-2 aggregate win to book a spot in the final.
During the league stage though, Mumbai City had to bring in a new coach in December – with first-time head coach Petr Kratky coming in to replace the popular Des Buckingham. The team faced several injury concerns but somehow managed to pull through, with the likes of Vikram Partap Singh having a breakthrough season.
In the 2020-21 season finale, both these teams met in the final at the Fatorda Stadium, in a bio-bubble behind closed doors. Tonight, they will meet again for the title in front of one of the most storied venues in the country.
Screenshots via Jio Cinema