Mumbai City posts facile win, seals final knockout berth

Mumbai City posts facile win, seals final knockout berth

Defending champion Mumbai City FC entered the 2024-25 Indian Super League playoffs at the expense of Odisha FC following a 2-0 victory over Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Tuesday.

First-half goals from Lallianzuala Chhangte and Nikolaos Karelis were enough as Mumbai (36 points) pipped Odisha (33) to bag the last available knockout berth. In the single-legged playoff, Mumbai will again meet BFC — which was guaranteed third spot regardless of the result versus Mumbai — in the Garden City later this month.

In that tie, BFC will have to improve leaps and bounds, for Tuesday’s performance was largely pedestrian. First-choice goalie Gurpreet Singh Sandhu started on the bench while Chinglensana Singh and Alberto Noguera weren’t even in the squad. The creative spark Ryan Williams was substituted at the break and captain Sunil Chhetri, for large stretches, cut a frustrated figure.

Mumbai, with everything to play for, went ahead in the eighth minute when Chhangte blindsided defender Aleksandar Jovanovic and bundled the ball from close-range after a goalmouth melee. The burly Australian was again in the thick of things as he fouled Karelis inside the box on 37 minutes and saw BFC’s deficit worsen.

BFC did not have a single shot on goal but it did come close twice in the first period — when a Chhetri header across the face of the goal missed Edgar Mendez by a whisker and when the skipper mis-controlled a splendid aerial ball from Williams at the far post. In the second half Mendez shot wide as he tried to beat an advancing Phurba Lachenpa.

But for these nervous moments, Mumbai was compact and controlled the match in expert fashion. In the second period, it outplayed the host and could have scored a lot more. Vikram Pratap Singh’s stunning long-ranger on 78 minutes went off the crossbar after being tipped over by ’keeper Sahil. However, the job was done by then.

The result: Bengaluru FC 0 lost to Mumbai City FC 2 (Chhangte 8, Karelis 37).