Fixture Flashback: Mumbai FC 2-1 East Bengal

by Kaushal Shukla January 17, 2016

Mumbai FC takes on East Bengal in few hours from now at Cooperage, in what looks like a mouth-watering clash between two sides which are expected to challenge for the top places in the Hero I-League this season. The duo have produced some classics over the past decade of competition, but recently it is the team from city of dreams that have had the upper hand over their Kolkata counterparts. With wins in each of their previous home games against the Red and Golds, Mumbai FC are beginning to become a bit of a bogey side for their opponents.

In our latest fixture flashback series, we take a look at the most recent meeting between the two sides at Cooperage, which takes us back to May of last year. East Bengal who had been scoring for fun throughout the season, visited Mumbai amidst growing relegation fears at Mumbai FC.

But nothing of that pressure was reflected on the pitch as Mumbai FC came storming out of the blocks and hit the front in just the 3^rd minute through a sublime Paresh Shivalkar free kick, before Josimar da Silva Martins doubled Mumbai’s lead in the 20^th minute.

East Bengal who were rocked heavily at the start failed to recover despite a 45^th minute goal from Ranti Martins and went down 2-1. The win not just gave Mumbai FC some breathing space in terms of the relegation battle, but it also served as a spring board for Mumbai FC to finish sixth in the I-League chart, which was the highest the club has ever finished in India’s top flight.

Fast forward six months, Mumbai FC and East Bengal lock horns once again and the fans will be in for a treat if the two teams can produce similar fireworks as they did in May. The atmosphere promises to be electric considering it is the first home game of the season for Mumbai FC.