Going into the game, Odisha FC were the favourites over Hyderabad FC, thanks to the high-profile foreigners in their squad and a better head-to-head record. By the end of the night, they were second best in every department as Manuel Roca's side secured an impressive 1-0 win at GMC Bambolim Athletic Stadium on Monday.
Interestingly, it's the first time that Hyderabad kept a clean sheet in their short history. Having finished rock bottom last season, they couldn't have asked for a better start.
It was also a tale of two centre forwards as Aridane Santana, who swapped the Odisha colours for Hyderabad one, came back to haunt his old club and proved to be the difference. The Spaniard, who scored nine goals for Odisha last season, hit the winner from the spot in the 35th minute and spearheaded his team's attack brilliantly all night.
Marcelinho, who had gone the other way in the transfer season, had a night to forget and even had the ignominy of being replaced by 18-year-old Premjit Singh a little after half-time.
The pattern of play was evident from the first whistle as a sharp-looking Hyderabad dominated from start to finish. Even though they were missing skipper Adil Khan, they outplayed Odisha in every department.
Odisha coach Stuart Baxter decided to field a few young Indians alongside big names like Steven Taylor, Marcelinho and Manuel Onwu. A lot of it was down to injuries to key players, but the decision to field 17-year-old Thoiba Singh and 20-year-old Saurabh Meher in the midfield didn't work and they were over-run.
The decision to play Onwu out wide instead of his preferred centre-forward position also cost them as it was his mistake that caused the goal. He passed the ball back to Hyderabad's Halicharan Narzary and the penalty came from the subsequent attack. Taylor was adjudged to have handled the ball while trying to block Narzary's shot and Santana made no mistake from the spot.
Hyderabad kept creating chances and could have scored more through the likes of Narzary and substitute Liston Colaco in particular as Odisha struggled to contain them.