Goa: Bengaluru FC played out a 2-2 with NorthEast United FC in an exciting match in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa on Tuesday (December 9). Udanta Singh and Juanan scored for the Blues.
Bengaluru coach Carlos set up his side in a 4-3-3 formation with Juanan being paired with Rahul Bheke at the heart of the defence. Dimas Delgado alongside Suresh Wangjam and Eric Paartalu formed a midfield trident. Deshorn Brown shared the forward line alongside Sunil Chhetri and Cleiton Silva.
The match had a cracking start with NorthEast opening the scoring in the fourth minute when Rochharzela’s left-footed shot got deflected before finding the back of the net. However, Bengaluru quickly made it 1-1 when Juanan slotted one through the crowd in the back of the net after a long throw-in into the box caused chaos among the Islanders’ defence.
Bengaluru dominated possession from the very start but somehow again wasn’t seen in their usual best although they did create a few good chances but were not converted mainly due to the lack of finishing inside the box. NorthEast were keeping their defence tight with finding their groove while going on the counters with forward Luis Machado looking very sharp.
In the second half, Bengaluru put pressure on the NorthEast defence rewarding them with a lead when Sunil Chhetri headed it into the box before Singh capitalised the defensive lapse to slot it past Islanders keeper Gurmeet Singh. But NorthEast as always a spirited side wasn’t going back down either creating quite a few opportunities before equalising when Juanan made a defensive howler with Machado taking the chance to put it past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the bottom corner net salvaging a draw sharing points.
