Late Bipin Singh goal hands Mumbai City FC maiden ISL title

Bipin Singh, the shirtless one, ran as the clock showed 89:50. The Mumbai City midfielder had chewed up the Fatorda stadium pitch all night but this was a run without the ball that meant the most. His sixth goal of the season meant Sandesh Jhingan, Arindam Bhattacharja and the rest of ATK Mohun Bagan wouldn’t be able to pick themselves up anymore. It also meant that after trailing in the 18th minute, Mumbai City FC would win their first Indian Super League (ISL) title. And that Bhattacharja accepting the golden glove award minutes later would feel like a cruel joke on the Bagan goalkeeper.

Bhattacharja had slumped to the floor at the final whistle and had to be dragged up; Bagan central defender Tiri sat on his haunches as the evening that had begun well when David Williams put them ahead unravelled spectacularly on Saturday leaving Mumbai City FC deserving winners. Never before had Antonio Lopes Habas lost an ISL final in two previous appearances, never before had Bagan lost when Williams scored but the sucker punch of a goal meant that the players in maroon and green looked like they were in a funeral when they stepped up to collect their medals. With 14 goals and eight assists, Roy Krishna won the golden ball but so dejected did the Fijian look that he could have dropped the award. Bhattacharja wept on Habas’s shoulder as reserve goalie Avilash Paul tried to console him.

In another corner of the field, in black shirts specially designed to commemorate the achievement, Mumbai City FC players and coach took selfies, gave each bear hugs and Bartholomew Ogbeche lifted coach Sergio Lobera. For the third time this season, they had beaten Bagan, for the second time in ISL history a team had won both the league shield and the trophy. Celebrations were in order.

Seven seasons ago, Habas had won his first ISL through a late goal from Mohammed Rafiq which remains the only goal he has scored in the competition. This time, the Spaniard was left to rue two mistakes by a team that prided its defensive solidity. Both came from Bhattacharja and both were from long balls. The first time, Bhattacharja didn’t call out to Tiri. The second time the Bagan goalie tried to chest a clearance away from Ogbeche and blew it. The Nigerian took charge and found Bipin who smoked a left-footer. “Amazing” and “memorable” were how Bipin described the effort after blowing kisses. “He was overconfident,” said Ogbeche on Bhattacharja’s botched attempt to play past him.

For the third successive game, Bagan scored in the first half. Exactly how unusual that is can be gauged by the piece of statistic that 25 of their 38 prior to this came after half-time. It was really Bagan’s front press that yielded the goal. Mumbai City FC like playing out from the back—Lobera even said on Friday that sticking to their way of playing is when they are at their best—and despite Mourtada Fall being chased by Roy Krishna once, they did that once again soon after.

This time, Bagan chased as a pack of four and Mumbai were caught. Krishna, Lenny Rodrigues, Williams and Subhasish Bose put the blue shirts under pressure in their back third; Krishna harrying Ahmed Jahouh and dispossessing him to find Williams. As Amrinder Singh crouched, Williams blasted home. It was the first time Bagan had scored against Mumbai all season.

Rodrigues was closing down Jahouh and with Bagan’s press unhinging Mumbai’s intricate passing game, the Kolkata giants were in control. Referee Tejas Nagvenkar didn’t agree with Mumbai’s claim for an early penalty when Pritam Kotal made contact with Bipin, who had made the first of his superb runs, and at the other end Javi Hernandez’s free-kick shaved the upright. After taking the lead, Bagan looked like they were preparing to defend Mumbai out of the ISL7 final. And till Tiri’s own goal in the 29th minute, off a header with Bipin on his shoulder and Bhattacharja stranded outside his area, they were doing it quite well.

Mumbai grew into the game after that. Bipin made another good run but couldn’t connect after Adam le Fondre drifted wide and dragged Bagan players with him. Carl McHugh, who had attempted to soften up Hugo Boumous with a hard tackle early, did that again at the start of the second half and was booked. Kept quiet in the first half, Manvir Singh began making some runs on the right but Raynier Fernandes’ snap shot and Boumous finding Bipin in the clear meant the better chances were falling for Mumbai. The best came in the 58th but with an empty goal Boumous blasted over.

Soon after, Bagan were denied a goal after a deflection from Mohamad Rakip, who had replaced the injured Amey Ranawade, off a Hernandez free-kick. Krishna, who was in an off-side position, was deemed to be interfering with play. In the 72nd minute, Hernandez fired a left-footer that was deflected into the horizontal by Amrinder. Possibly because Mumbai were tiring having done most of the running, Bagan tried to take the game to extra-time when the old football superstition came to haunt them—a team hitting the framework does not win.

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