Kolkata, May 3: Mohun Bagan will look to cap off their fairytale season with a historic treble as they face Mumbai City FC in the ISL summit clash at Salt Lake Stadium, with 62,000 partisan fans expected to cheer their guts out and paint the stands in green and maroon, creating an electrifying atmosphere here on Saturday.
The season began with the Mariners winning the Durand Cup for the first time after 23 years. Having slipped to fifth in the table at midway stage, Antonio Habas took over from Juan Ferrando and led them to their maiden League Winners Shield.
Two weeks after they defeated Mumbai City FC 2-1 to win their maiden Shield, the two teams will return to the same venue of Salt Lake Stadium with an aim to complete a rare double in the ISL and a hat-trick of titles in one season.
As per noted football statistician Hari Prasad Chattopadhyay, the last time Mohun Bagan won three titles or more was more than 23 years back when they had won the erstwhile National Football League (NFL), Federation Cup, Calcutta Premier Division League, Sikkim Gold Cup and Bordoloi Trophy. The coach was India captain Sunil Chhetri’s father-in-law Subroto Bhattacharyya.
Mumbai City FC have done it before in 2020-21 and the stage will be set for Mohun Bagan to follow suit.
“Statistics have no relevance. We have to continue playing well and complete the circle,” Habas said in the pre-match media interaction. The target however is to finish the game in “45 minutes”, said Habas making it clear that he will go all-out in attack with Anirudh Thapa, Jason Cummings, Dimitri Petratos and Manvir Singh. (PTI)
