ATK Mohun Bagan held their nerve in a tightly-contested Hero Indian Super League (ISL) Final 2022-23 as they beat Bengaluru FC 4-3 on penalties to lift the title at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Saturday.
In a game that ended 2-2 in regulation time, ATKMB’s Dimitri Petratos scored all three penalties he took on the night before Vishal Kaith’s save from Bruno Ramires’ penalty in the shoot-out brought them one step closer. Bengaluru FC’s Pablo Perez then sent his spot-kick over the bar as the Mariners sealed the result in a game where they had unsettled Bengaluru FC right from the start.
Bengaluru FC were forced into bringing Sunil Chhetri on early after Sivasakthi Narayanan was stretchered off in the opening minute of the match. The Blues fell behind in the 13th minute when Krishna handled the ball from a Petratos corner as ATKMB were awarded a penalty. Petratos finished the job from the spot to put his team in front. ATKMB made use of this advantage to put pressure on Bengaluru FC, who picked up a glut of yellow cards on the pitch and one off it for head coach Simon Grayson.
But in the final minute of first-half stoppage time, BFC efforts earned a way back when Subhasish Bose missed the ball and made contact with Roy Krishna while attempting a clearance. Chhetri stepped up to take it and sent Kaith the wrong way to restore parity. Earlier in the half, a similar tackle by captain Pritam Kotal had gone unpunished.
In the final quarter of the game, Bengaluru sprung into the lead as Rohit’s shot from the edge of the box created a series of corners, before a deflection found Krishna at the far post – the striker nodded it home in the 78th minute. But five minutes from time, the game was all square again. At the edge of the Bengaluru FC box, Kiyan Nassiri went down after a nudge from Perez as ATKMB won their second penalty of the evening. Petratos was on hand to score again.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Asish Rai’s goal bound shot was cleared off the line by Prabir Das. Moments later, Colaco and Nassiri almost combined to score, but Bruno Ramires provided the crucial interception as the game went into extra time.
In extra time, Udanta Singh and Rohit failed to hit the target with their respective chances, while Manvir missed from a few yards out for ATKMB. Towards the end of extra time, Sandhu spilled Petratos’ long-range strike, but it bounced out for a corner that led to nothing before the game headed into penalties.
ISL winners, ATKMB took home a prize money INR 6 crore, while runners-up Bengaluru FC were awarded INR 2.5 crore.
ATK Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Vishal Kaith, who was named the Hero of the Match, also won the Golden Glove award. The Golden Boot award for highest number of goals in the season went to Odisha FC striker Diego Mauricio (12 goals). Sivasakthi Narayanan of Bengaluru FC bagged the Emerging player of the league award. Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mumbai City FC) was adjudged the best player of ISL 2022-23 and presented the Hero of the League award.
Meanwhile, ATK Mohan Bagan will be renamed Mohun Bagan Super Giants next season, announced club owner Sanjiv Goenka.👇
