Goa: Odisha FC opened their Indian Super League campaign this season in style sealing a 3-1 victory over Bengaluru FC at the Tilak Maidan in Goa on Wednesday (November 24).
The two Spaniards Javi Hernandez and Aridai Suarez starred for for Odisha with the former scoring a brace while Aridai netting one as well late in the game though Bengaluru did manage to get one back through Alan Costa.
Javi stunned the BFC defence as his effort from outside the box found the net in the 3rd minute. Bengaluru’s dominance on the ball proved fruitful as they equalised shortly after that through Alan Costa who headed it home from Roshan Singh cross.
The “Blues” created a few opportunities after going to the break testing Kiko Ramirez’s side’s defence though nothing came off from those.The evening though belonged to Javi who extended Odisha’s lead five minutes into the second half from a superbly taken free-kick outside the box leav the BFC defensive wall stunned after Jonathas was brought down by Udanta Singh on the edge of the box.
Bengaluru did have the golden opportunity for a comeback as substitute as Cleiton Silva won a penalty at the hour mark. Sunil Chhetri stepped up to repay his first half miss but was denied by the Odisha goal-keeper Karanjit Singh and though Cleiton slotted it on the follow-through, his effort was disallowed as he entered the box before the shot was taken.Sunil Chhetri was off the track on the evening struggling to make his presence felt in the opposing though Bengaluru did press harder to find openings.
Spaniard Aridai Suarez sealed the deal for Odisha beating BFC goalie Gurpreet Singh Sandhu with a clinical strike in the added minutes.
