Sunil Chhetri and Bengaluru Football Club Focus on Durand milestone

Kolkata: Indian Football Star Sunil Chhetri will be desperate to add the coveted Durand Cup title to his illustrious career when he drives Bengaluru FC against Mumbai City FC in the summit clash.

For Sunil, who is in the dusk of his profession, the Durand Cup is absent from his trophy cabinet. It’s likewise no different for Bengaluru FC, who have won all significant Indian contests since appearing in 2013, however not the Durand Cup. BFC was the ISL 2018-19 champions, have six other top homegrown titles to their name and will be competing for their seventh.

“It’s very, very special. It is one of the oldest tournaments which in itself is very big. As a club we have not won it,” Chhetri said of Bengaluru FC who have won the I-League two times, the Indian Super League once and the Federation Cup/Super Cup three times. “More so for me. Individually too, I’ve not won the Durand Cup at all. I’ve been fortunate to win a lot of tournaments, almost all the tournaments that one can in India and the Durand Cup is missing,” Chhetri said in the development of the upcoming tournament.

“So for me, it’s an additional motivation. We as a club will make an honest effort. Last year our young boys gave a decent record of themselves, we need to better that,” he said of their last edition’s show where a youthful Blues side was eliminated in unexpected passing by eventual champions FC Goa.

An undaunted, gritty performance helped by an own objective from Hyderabad FC’s Odei Onaindia took Bengaluru FC to their very first Durand Cup final here on Thursday.

MCFC, then again, expelled local heavyweights Mohammedan Sporting in the other elimination round, to set up a clash between two previous ISL champions. The likes of Javier Hernandez, Roy Krishna, and Chhetri front, and center will have their task cut out, with Des Buckingham’s MCFC at their resolute best so far, especially after the inclusion of Senegalese defender Mourtada Fall.

They additionally have the most noteworthy scorer of the tournament Lallianzuala Chhangte (seven goals) in their positions and a person of the quality of Greg Stewart marshaling the midfield with power. “Look I think we need to play as a team tomorrow,” Simon Grayson, BFC’s English coach said just before the final. “They play a lot of passes. We must be great tomorrow to stop the opposition. We must be cautious and ensure we play better. “We don’t have any injuries. Our target will be to win the trophy without any injuries. We are in the final and we will make sure that we win the trophy because we have the mentality to win,” he added.

Islanders mentor Buckingham is very much aware of Roy Krishna’s strength from his Wellington Phoenix days in the A-League. “It isn’t just about individual ability Bengaluru has yet the attacking ability they have when the players connect up. “We will have our game plan and I’m focusing in on how we manage the ball and without it. We’ll focus on our way to deal with how we attack and defend,” the MCFC mentor said.

West Bengal governor La Ganesan, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, and state sports minister Aroop Biswas among different dignitaries will be in attendance for the final. The final day additionally has an intricate closing ceremony with patriotic melodies to be played by bands.