High-flying Bengaluru FC tasted its first defeat of the 2024-25 Indian Super League campaign as FC Goa beat Gerard Zaragoza’s men 3-0 at the Fatorda Stadium here on Saturday.
The result, however, kept the Blues in first place, with 16 points from seven matches, three points ahead of Mohun Bagan, which has, albeit, played a game less. For FC Goa, the win — courtesy second-half strikes from Armando Sadiku, Brison Fernandes and Dejan Drazic — brought immense relief, for it was just its second win from seven contests.
Goa was the early aggressor, riding on Drazic’s creativity on the wings. It threatened from set-pieces too, but BFC did well to keep the tie goalless going in the break.
But the pressure eventually told, even as BFC was forced to reshuffle its defence after Aleksandar Jovanovic was unable to continue. On 63 minutes, Sadiku’s shot from Mohammad Yasir’s low cross took a couple of deflections before trickling past goalie Gurpreet Sandhu.
Substitute Brison doubled Goa’s advantage with a deft chip from outside the box after Gurpreet was robbed off the ball by Sadiku inside the BFC penalty area. Drazic netted Goa’s third in stoppage-time after latching onto Iker Guarrotxena’s chip.
The result: FC Goa 3 (Sadiku 63, Brison 72, Drazic 90+3) bt Bengaluru FC 0.
Published – November 03, 2024 08:51 pm IST
