Kolkata, February 14: Defending League Shield champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant kicked off their Indian Super League 2025–26 campaign with a confident 2–0 victory over Kerala Blasters FC on Saturday evening at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan.
The Mariners kick off the match with an attacking approach, started intensly attacking, and In the 31st minute, one of promising situation came, Apuiya earned a free-kick when Danish Farooq fouled him just outside the box from the middle. Liston stepped in to take the free-kick and unleashed an on-target shot, but Sachin Suresh made a impactful save to deny the opener.
Four minutes later, Mohun Bagan SG broke the deadlock. From the right side inside the box, Petratos passed the ball to Maclaren, who turned, twisted, and fired an on-target shot to give Mohun Bagan SG a deserved 1–0 lead.
In the last minute of added time in the first half at 45+2nd minute Robson attempted a grounder shot from the left, however Bikash Yumnam made a goal-line clearance to keep Mohun Bagan SG ahead going into the break.
Kerala Blasters created their best chance at this time, as they had been mostly busy defending. At the 86th minute they earned a free-kick from a promising position just outside the box when Danish Farooq was fouled. Marlon took the set-piece, but his effort deflected off the human wall as Kerala Blasters missed the promising chance to equalise.
In the 90+4th minute, Naocha Singh fouled Manvir on the right flank. Anirudh Thapa delivered the free-kick into the box, where Tom Aldred headed the ball down into the net to make it 2–0 in the final moments of the match. The late goal sealed the result and sparked celebrations among the Mariners.
After guiding Mohun Bagan SG to a winning start in his first match in charge, head coach Sergio Lobera reflected on the performance, the challenges ahead, and the excitement of the new season. Speaking after the match, he said
“As a coach today, I feel we need to improve a lot in some situations. But I am very happy, it is the first game, always the first game, it is not easy. we are waiting for this moment for a long time and we are very happy to be able to do what we love most, to play football. It is exciting to see the support that is here, it is exciting to have football playing in the country and all this is very exciting and hopefully we can continue to work in the best way as possible for us as a club and also for the country.”
The goal confirmed Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s 2–0 victory in their opening match of the Indian Super League 2025–26 season, as the defending Shield champions made a winning start at home. Under new head coach Sergio Lobera, Mohun Bagan SG showed attacking intent from the beginning and finished the match strongly, starting their campaign with three points in their home.
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