It has been almost 10 years since a Bangladesh club won against Indian club Mohun Bagan AC. In February 2014, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club had defeated Mohun Bagan in the IFA Shield. Since then Abahani have faced off against Mohun Bagan thrice but couldn’t win in any of the matches.
In 2017, Abahani took on Mohun Bagan twice in the AFC Cup, drawing 1-1 in Dhaka and losing 1-3 in Kolkata. Last year, Abahahani again lost 1-3 to Mohun Bagan in the same competition.
Today (Tuesday), Abahani-Mohun Bagan will once again face off in the play-off match of the AFC Cup in Kolkata. In a way, this match will be a battle for pride between the two leading teams of the two Bengals. Mohun Bagan’s Spanish coach Juan Ferrando spoke about the importance of the match in the pre-match press conference, “it won’t be an easy match at all. Abahani has many good players. In a sense, this match is like a final for us.”
Abahani defeated Maldivian outfits Club Eagles 2-1 in Sylhet on Wednesday. But Mohun Bagan is a much stronger opponent. Before leaving for Kolkata with the team, Abahani coach Mario Lemos told Prothom Alo, “Mohun Bagan is a really strong team. They are a little bit ahead in terms of strength. If we want to do well against this team, we have to give more than a 100 per cent. We have to perfectly execute every plan on the field. We have to take our chances.”
Does that mean Mohun Bagan are the favourites? Their coach Ferrando hesitated to say so, “Football is a 90-minute game. We have to be careful during the match. Anything can happen in the 90 minutes. Abahani is a very good team.”
Abahani’s main strength is undoubtedly its overseas recruits– Grenada’s Cornelius Stewart, Uzbekistan’s Muzaffar Muzaffarov, Brazil’s Danilo Augusto, Nigerian duo Ojukwu David and Emeka Ogbugh and Iranian Milad Sheikh.
When asked about Abahani’s impressive list of foreign recruits, the Mohun Bagan coach said, “We are only thinking about ourselves.”
Mohun Bagan’s Australian player Jason Cummins, who played in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, could be a big threat for Abahani.
The Abahani coach acknowledged the Cummins threat but said they can’t afford to worry about just one player in the Mohun Bagan ranks, “A player who has played in the World Cup must be of high quality. But we have to think about the other players in the Mohun Bagan team as well. They have a few other good players. We have to guard them. All in all, we have to work hard in the match. As the opponents are really strong, so we can’t expect that the outcome will always come in our favour.”
Abahani team landed in Kolkata on Monday in two groups. Abahani’s 1st choice goalkeeper Mahfuz Hasan, who was in between the posts against Club Eagles, is down with fever and didn’t make the trip to Kolkata. Alamgir and Rejaul also didn’t go with the team as they are currently injured.
The match will kick-off at 7:30pm Bangladesh Standard Time at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.