BENGALURU: The match on Thursday mattered little as both Bengaluru FC and FC Goa had already qualified for the playoffs. Yet, Bengaluru had many points to prove. Their ailing attack lacked firepower even in the presence of two talismanic scorers Sunil Chhetri and Nicolas Fedor (Miku). Their midfield was short of creativity and defence had been prone to making mistakes.
Before Carles Cuadrat’s men headed to playoffs, this Goa test was the best opportunity for them to get things in order. They didn’t have the best of starts on Thursday evening, going down to 10 men with Nishu Kumar sent off in the 42nd minute. But Bengaluru capitalised on mistakes to go top of the table with a 3-0 victory at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in their penultimate league game. Bengaluru have 34 points from 17 games, while Goa slipped to second place with 31 points from as many games.
Games between the two sides have always produced goals with 12 coming in their past four meetings. Despite missing key men in Chhetri, Erik Paartalu and Albert Serran through injuries and suspension, Bengaluru continued the trend. The hosts punished a sloppy Goan defence in the second half with goals from Juanan Gonzalez (50’), Udanta Singh (58’) and Miku (69’).
The result, however, doesn’t justify Goa’s performance. Sergio Lobera’s men had more possession, shots on target and more chances in the first half. But it changed in the second with their defence struggling to keep pace. Xisco Hernandez, who missed plenty of key passes while creating just one, opened up a chance for Bengaluru with a fine freekick to Miku. The Venezuelan striker flicked it towards Juanan, who put it past Goa keeper Naveen Kumar in the 50th minute. It did not take long for Bengaluru to double their lead with Udanta turning in a pass from Dimas Delgado in the 58th minute. A rejuvenated Bengaluru never seemed a man less with Miku scoring his fourth goal of the season from outside the box in the 69th minute.
Goa were the better side in the first half but failed to convert their chances. Out of six shots on goal, Ferran Corominas & Co hit the post thrice and the rest failed to test Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. In the 74th minute, they had another chance but Hugo Boumous missed a sitter after Corominas rounded up Gurpreet to create the chance. That summed up an awful day for the coastal side.