AFC Cup: ATK Mohun Bagan begin life without Sandesh Jhingan with impressive win over Bengaluru FC

A day when one of the club’s most important players Sandesh Jhingan made his transfer to Croatian top flight side HNK Sibenik official, ATK Mohun Bagan ensured they don’t miss their reliable centre-back on the field. The team kept a clean sheet but more importantly, scored two goals against Bengaluru FC (BFC) to win their first group stage match of 2021 AFC Cup at the National Football Stadium in Male. Familiarity was an aspect going into the match considering their rivalry in the Indian Super League. While ATK Mohun Bagan showed quality and decisiveness in breaking BFC’s defence twice, their opponents didn’t really threaten the team’s new goalkeeper Amrinder Singh although they improved in the second-half. The first goal was scored by their talisman Roy Krishna in 39th minute. Subhasish Bose, who had a brilliant game, beat his defender to win the header from the corner. Krishna, as always, was present at the right spot to flick the ball into the net with his head. The next one was even better. Subhasish received the ball from the left flank. He took a touch, turned and executed a perfect finish to beat Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. What followed was a typical Antonio Habas ’ team performance as ATK MB sat back, soaked up the attacking pressure and tried to break ahead on the counter. Bengaluru pushed for the goals, to take at least a point from the game but they were thwarted by an impressive defence. Impressive precisely because the team was adjusting to life after Jhingan. He might not be your eye-pleasing, easy on the ball, excellent distributor of long balls but there are not many centre-backs of Jhingan’s quality in Indian football. He played only one full season for ATK MB but was influential in their run to the final with the team conceding the least number of goals.

A goal and an assist in the #AFCCup to mark your birthday! ⚽🎂

Certainly a day to remember for #BlueTigers and @atkmohunbaganfc defender Subhasish Bose 😄🥳#IndianFootball #IndianFootballForwardTogether #AFCCup2021 pic.twitter.com/ucF8e1urw1

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) August 18, 2021

Habas prefers to keep it compact at the back and his teams hardly lose their shape, making it really difficult for their opponents. It was a big test against BFC, a side that knows a thing or two about Habas’ philosophy and this time there was no Jhingan. But ATK showed the usual discipline in defence and effectiveness in front of the goal. They didn’t try anything fancy or drastic since they last played, they stuck to their usual game plan and ended up victorious. It was expected that Sumit Rathi would come into the XI and will see more game time after Jhingan’s departure. Habas’ preferred back three against BFC was Pritam Kotal, Carl McHugh and Rathi with the Irish footballer operating in the centre. Rathi showed maturity and composure, befitting of a first-team player. The AFC Cup group stages matches will be significant for him to get the minutes under his belt and gear up for the upcoming ISL season. Moving on from defence, ATK MB’s attack got a huge boost in the form of Hugo Boumous . The No 10 moved from champions Mumbai City FC last month in a record-breaking transfer and he was off to a great start in his first game in green and maroon colours. A superb diagonal run from the midfield to the box was followed by a powerful left-footer only for Gurpreet to save the hit. A few minutes later in the first half, Boumous’ cross from the right for Krishna caught Gurpreet by surprise but the forward failed to reach the ball. The first goal of the match came from a corner which Boumous took. He played for 72 minutes and for the entire duration, he was the best player on the pitch. A team with the likes of Krishna, Williams and Boumous can cause a lot of damage to the opponents but the positive sign for Habas is that the combination seemed to be working right from the first game. Bengaluru showed intensity in the opening stages of the game but as the first half progressed, ATK MB grabbed control of the game. Marco Pezzaiuoli has been tasked to rebuild the team after a disappointing last season but they are still a work-in-progress. Sunil Chhetri was anonymous for 70 odd minutes before he was substituted. Cleiton Silva tried his best to make it work on the field but apart from one decent chance, he didn’t have a lot of success. There were a few nice moments in the second half for BFC when substitutes Ajith Kumar and Bidyashagar Singh combined on the right but it didn’t materialise into something substantial. The winner of this group will qualify for the inter-Zone semi-final. The others teams in Group D are Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings and Maziya Sports & Recreation from Maldives. Bashundhara Kings also defeated Maziya 2-0 on Wednesday.