Mumbai City FC Beat East Bengal With Dramatic 87th-Minute Winner In ISL

Mumbai City FC (MCFC) has beaten East Bengal FC (EBFC) by 3-2 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25. Despite conceding 55% of the possession to East Bengal FC, the Islanders (MCFC) were more lethal in the final third, taking eight shots on target as opposed to the five of the home team, and moved up to fifth from the seventh spot in the standings. Mumbai City FC were offensively prolific in the first-half, recording 12 touches inside East Bengal FC's box in the opening 45 minutes. Nikolaos Karelis' thumping header from near the six-yard box was blocked on the goal-line after a well-coordinated corner move by the Islanders in the 28th minute. Tiri received the ball on the far post and headed it to Karelis, who tried to nod the ball home, but his shot couldn't trouble the net, an ISL release said.

Eleven minutes later, the visitors pulled off another flawless sequence from the back, with their defensive unit initiating the attack. Brandon Fernandes picked the ball from Vikram Partap Singh at the centre from distance. Immediately, Brandon carved open the East Bengal FC defence with a slick through-ball intended for Lallianzuala Chhangte. The attacker took a fine touch, before he deposited it into the bottom left corner with a fierce right-footed shot to break the deadlock. EBFC 0 - 1 MCFC

They capitalised on this momentum, with Yoell van Nieff coming to the fore with a similar delivery that swung past the gaps in the East Bengal FC backline. This time around, the ball was directed to Karelis, who took an instant shot that was stopped by Prabhsukhan Singh Gill. However, the striker latched on to the rebound, placing the ball into the bottom right corner in the 43rd minute to