FINAL WHISTLE and the match finishes East Bengal 1-4 Bengaluru! Bengaluru wins the 2018 Indian Super Cup, making up for its loss to Chennaiyin FC in the final of ISL. East Bengal finishes the season without a trophy to show for its endeavours.
90': GOAL! Chhetri gets his second goal of the match and Bengaluru is 4-1 up. Chhetri finds the right corner with a thumping header from a teasing cross from the right.
89': Sub-Dudu replaces Kromah.
86': East Bengal regains possession after a large spell spent defending and has an opportunity to break. But Bengaluru gets back into shape and diffuses the situation.
84': Sub - Ralte comes off with Jobby Justin replacing him.
80': Bengaluru dominating possession and East Bengal players are moving at a walking pace. The result seems a foregone conclusion.
74': The players are having a water break with a little more than a quarter of an hour left. Bengaluru with a two-goal and a man advantage, and seems to have this match in its grasp.
71': GOAL! East Bengal 1-3 Bengaluru! Miku with a powerful shot to find the top-left corner after some clever play down the middle.
69': GOAL! Sunil Chhetri converts the spot-kick, sending Ubaid the wrong way and finding the bottom left-hand corner. East Bengal 1-2 Bengaluru.
68': PENALTY , to Bengaluru! A cross from the left flank catches Gurwinder's left arm and Bengaluru is awarded a penalty.
65': CHANCE! Victor Perez has a great opportunity to put Bengaluru ahead. Ubaid misjudges a cross into the box and comes off his line. He's nowhere near Perez, who is unmarked and has to keep his header on target. He, however, heads wide of the goal and East Bengal can breathe a huge sigh of relief.
63': Another spell of good possession from Bengaluru FC, which nearly takes the lead. An inviting cross into the box from the right. But a layoff across the face of goal doesn't find a Bengaluru player and the ball is cleared.
61': Sub - Erik Paartalu is off and is replaced by Antonio Dovale. The first substitution of the match.
59': CHANCE! Gurpreet makes another save, this time a lot easier and at a much comfortable height, from a cleanly-struck drive from Ralte.
56': Going down to 10 men has not affected East Bengal, which has been the better team in the opening minutes of the second half. A free-kick from Al Amna from 22 yards out is on target and Gurpreet is forced into a diving save to his left. That was headed for the top corner!
52': Kromah has the ball in the net but had started from an offside position as Lobo shot on target, so the goal is disallowed. Gurpreet didn't collect the ball cleanly and a persistent Kromah managed to steal the ball off the Bengaluru goalkeeper and shoot on target.
50': Ralte is the one who shoots from distance but
48': A long-range effort from Subhasish is wide. Importantly, he had space in front of him and time, too, but doesn't get the right connection.
The players are back out and the second half is underway.
On the red card: Mallick ferociously cleared a loose ball in the box, chased by Subhasish. Then, he frustratingly threw his right arm in the direction of Subhasish's face and he made the most of that act of annoyance and hit the ground. The referee, who was in the know as these events played out, had no second thoughts about the colour of the card.
The stats — four on-target attempts from both teams (eight goal attempts in all for both), two corners for East Bengal to three for Bengaluru FC — suggest that the first half was evenly contested but Bengaluru shaded it towards the end with its strong reaction to East Bengal's opener.
Kromah gave East Bengal the lead on 28 minutes with an improvised effort, but East Bengal has since been pegged back through Rahul Bheke's goal and a flurry of chances for Bengaluru towards the end of the half. The I-League side is fortuitously still level at the break and probably needed half-time more than its ISL rival. All to play for in the second 45' and probably more if the score remains level after 90'.
Half-time: East Bengal 1-1 Bengaluru!
46': RED CARD for Samad Mallick! Subhasish's theatrics, from a seemingly innocuous right hand of Mallick, results in the referee brandishing a red card and reducing East Bengal to 10 men. Bengaluru went down to 10 men in its semifinal clash against Mohun Bagan and went on to win 4-1.
44': Bengaluru nearly takes the lead on the stroke of halftime with Victor Perez dragging his shot wide from the right-hand-side as Ubaid rushed off his line and exerted pressure on him.
41': Concerted pressure from Bengaluru, which managed to win a corner despite some heroic, last-ditch defending from the East Bengal defence. And similar to Yusa's corner, the delivery was perfect albeit curling away from the goal and making Bheke's job that bit harder. But he caught the ball perfectly and the net rippled upon contact.
39': Goal , equaliser for Bengaluru and the match is back level again! Rahul Bheke with a thunderous header that beats Ubaid and gives Bengaluru parity. East Bengal 1-1 Bengaluru.
36': A last-ditch challenge prevents Miku from having a shot on goal.
32': Udanta has an open goal to aim at but his left-footed effort is wide and Ubaid, who failed to punch the ball out of danger, gets a let-off.
30': The goal had been coming for East Bengal, which had been putting pressure on the Bengaluru defence and goalkeeper. Paarthalu headed out a dangerous cross from the right flank and Yusa's delivery from the resulting corner put pressure on Gurpreet Sandhu and the defence, who didn't manage the situation well.
28': GOAL! Kromah puts East Bengal ahead in the final with a overhead kick finding a near-open goal. Gurpreet tries to punch Yusa's corner away but doesn't get enough power on his punch and the ball lands kindly for Kromah, who telepathically shoots with his back to goal and finds the right corner. Paartalu tries to make a goal-line clearance but Kromah's shot was beautifully placed! East Bengal 1-0 Bengaluru!
27': Erik Paartalu heads out a dangerous cross from Al Amna from the right flank. Katsumi Yusa to take the corner.
24': Both teams have settled into a nice rhythm. A handful of half-chances for both in the last five minutes.
22': Ralte spots Gurpreet Sandhu well off his line and shoots from near the halfway line, but the Bengaluru FC goalkeeper back pedals and collects a well-struck shot that was on its way in.
18': A shot on target from Sunil Chhetri from near the 'D' but it's a tame effort that Ubaid gobbles up.
11': A combative opening 10 minutes with both sides posing not much of a goal threat neither from open play nor from the set-pieces won.
9': Japanese Katsumi Yusa shoots over from a free-kick for Gurpreet's foul just outside the 18-yard box.
8': Kromah is brought down down and receiving medical attention after a dangerous challenge from Gurpreet Sandhu, who rushed off his line and challenged for a loose ball with his studs up. East Bengal players seemingly want the Bengaluru goalkeeper to be shown a red, but the referee only brandishes a yellow card.
6': Bengaluru enjoying the lion's share of the ball and it is playing some deft possession football. But it is in need of more composure in the final-third.
3': Sunil Chhetri tries to make space and get his shot away from the left, but only ekes out a corner which Bengaluru doesn't make the most of.
Kick-off! Bengaluru gets things underway, with it and East Bengal looking to make up for not winning their respective leagues, the ISL and I-League.
Hello, welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the 2018 AIFF Super Cup Final between Bengaluru FC and East Bengal FC.
Starting XIs:
Bengaluru FC: Gurpreet (GK), Bheke, Juanan, Johnson, Subhasish, Lenny, Paartalu, Victor, Miku, Chhetri (C), Udanta
East Bengal FC: Ubaid (GK), Chullova, Ferreira, Gurwinder, Samad, Aucho, Al Amna, Lobo (C), Yusa, Ralte, Kromah.
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