There’s no better feeling than winning, and there’s no club in Indian football, at the moment, which gets it better than Bengaluru FC.
The Blues from Bengaluru were crowned ISL champions for the first time – in what was only their second season plying their trade in the tournament – after an extra time win over FC Goa in the Indian Super League 2018/19 final at Mumbai on Sunday, 17 March.
The scenes, well... that was a story in itself!
The party, of course, only truly began once they were off the field – these were the scenes in the Bengaluru FC team bus.
And the party, quite obviously, extended into the night.
The Man, The Moment
The moment that BFC fans won’t forget for many a year arrived from the man they call ‘Bheke’nbauer.
Defender Rahul Bheke’s assigned moniker equates him with ‘Der Kaiser’ – legendary German Franz Beckenbauer, a FIFA World Cup winner as both player and coach.
On Sunday night at the Mumbai Football Arena, Bheke immortalised himself in the club’s annals by providing the decisive moment of the night.
India’s Finest; Now for Asia
Their frequent successes can often make one forget that Bengaluru FC are barely six years old as a club. Founded in July 2013, the JSW Group-owned team now lay claim to six major laurels – ‘Six in Six’ was a popular chant/hashtag through the evening.
Bengaluru FC: Honours Board
- 2013/14: I-League champions
- 2014/15: Fed Cup champions, I-League runners-up
- 2015/16: I-League champions, AFC Cup runners-up
- 2016/17: Fed Cup champions
- 2017/18: Indian Super Cup champions, ISL runners-up
- 2018/19: ISL champions
The stellar consistency shows they’re not one to rest on their laurels; the mood in the camp, even amid delirious celebrations, shows they’ve set their sights at higher glory.
Captain Chhetri’s Dream Weekend
You’ve got to wonder who writes Sunil Chhetri’s scripts.
On Saturday, 16 March, the Indian captain received the Padma Shri award from President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan – becoming only the sixth Indian footballer to be awarded the country’s fourth-highest civilian honour.
On Sunday, he had led Bengaluru to the ISL crown.
Chhetri, incidentally, is the only player to have been part of all six titles won by BFC in six years.
No One Man Show
Chhetri might be ‘captain-leader-legend’ to the Bengaluru folk, but his generals were no short of legend themselves.
Kumam Udanta Singh was the perfect foil to his skipper’s finishing prowess from midfield, Spanish footballer Dimas Delgado supplied the corner that rewrote the ISL history books, and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu furthered his credentials by taking the ‘Golden Glove’ for ISL 2018/19.
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