KOCHI: Playing his 200th game for Bengaluru FC, Sunil Chhetri inspired the Blues to a stunning 4-2 win over Mumbai City in their ISL clash at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Monday.
The 36-year-old scored a brace while Cleiton Silva also struck two to help them earn three points which helps them cut the gap from top four to just two points. Interestingly, Chhetri is now on 99 goals for Bengaluru FC and the veteran showed again that he is ageing like fine wine.
Adam le Fondre's double went in vain as Mumbai missed out on an opportunity to go back to the top of the table.
Bengaluru stunned the Islanders with a goal inside the first 25 seconds. Chhetri picked out the run of Udanta Singh down the right flank from the half-way line. The winger squared the ball into the path of Cleiton who slammed it past Amrinder Singh to give them the perfect start. It was the fastest goal of the season. Naushad Moosa's men were playing with a certain sense of freedom and were not afraid of playing front-foot football instead of trying to sit back and defend.
Chhetri then launched a shot from outside the box which was almost turned into his own net by defender Hernan Santana whose deflected shot went just over the bar.
It was an open game and Mumbai had a gilt-edged chance when Ahmed Jahouh picked out Le Fondre with a stunning long ball from the back. The English forward beautifully controlled it with his chest but couldn't test Gurpreet Singh Sandhu enough as the chance went begging.
The see-saw battle shifted to the other end and Erik Paartalu drew a stunning one-handed save from Amrinder when it looked like the Australian's shot from distance was going into the top corner.
Bengaluru went onto score again with Cleiton heading in a free-kick from Xisco Hernandez as he pulled away from his marker at the near post and caught the Mumbai defence off-guard.
Pinned back by a two-goal deficit, Mumbai had another golden opportunity to score when Raynier Fernandes went on a lung-busting run but he couldn't finish while being one on one with Gurpreet. Bengaluru went into half-time with a 2-0 lead but Mumbai staged a fightback in an enthralling second half.
They managed to pull one back in the 50th minute when Cy Goddard went on a good run down the right flank and picked out Le Fondre in the middle with a first-time cross. The forward made no mistake with his finish.
It was an entertaining game of football where both teams who like to play expansive football were going toe-to-toe.
Bengaluru went onto restore their two-goal cushion when a goal kick from Gurpreet found its way all the way to Chhetri in the opposition box and the BFC skipper took a first-time volley to steer it past Amrinder.
Le Fondre gave Mumbai hope when he scored again in the 72nd minute as Mumbai threw everything at Bengaluru and they were always going to be vulnerable on the break.
Bengaluru killed the game off in injury time when Chhetri ran all the way from close to the half-way line and finished it past Amrinder to seal a stunning victory.