Mohun Bagan Beat East Bengal 1-0 To Win Durand Cup Title For First Time After 23 Years

A moment of sheer brilliance from Dimitri Petratos proved decisive as 10-man Mohun Bagan Super Giant beat arch-rivals East Bengal 1-0 in a fiercely contested final to clinch Durand Cup title for the first time after 23 years in Kolkata on Sunday. Mohun Bagan were one-man down after Anirudh Thapa was sent off in the 62nd minute, but they still scored the decisive goal through a brilliant solo effort from Petratos in the 71st minute. In a swift counter-attacking move, the Australian player skilfully weaved past the East Bengal defence, before unleashing a powerful strike from 25 yards out. East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill was left a mute spectator.

This was Mohun Bagan's 17th Durand Cup title. They last won the title in 2000 when they beat Mahindra United via a golden goal.

As the clock ticked away, East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat made three changes, bringing in Nishu Kumar, VP Suhair and Edwin Vanspaul in the last 10 minutes in a bid to restore parity.

His Mohun Bagan counterpart Juan Ferrando pressed eight players into his defence with Anwar Ali rock solid in the middle.

In a heated exchange, East Bengal's assistant coach Dimas Delgado got into a war of words with Ferrando, and after a scuffle, the former received a red card in the second-half extra time.

In the 86th minute, Edwin Vanspaul attempted a shot on target from outside the box, but Anwar Ali was quick to react, making a timely block to deny East Bengal any chance of an equaliser.

Mohun Bagan thus avenged their 2004 Durand Cup final defeat to East Bengal when they had lost 1-2.

In this phase, Mohun Bagan had lost three Durand Cup finals, the last being against Gokulam Kerala (1-2) in 2019.

From East Bengal's perspective, a national-level title