The century-approaching Kolkata football derby will be seeing another edition as traditional rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan renew their duel at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. The standing in the league table is of little significance in this battle of prestige which draws a capacity crowd every time the two come face to face.
The current league standings have both the city giants placed in the bottom half with the two tied on nine points each after playing six matches. After making a good start to the season, East Bengal suffered three successive defeats before returning to winning ways with a 3-1 win against Gokulam Kerala FC in its last outing at home.
Lacking cohesion
The club, managed by Alejandro Menendez, is looking to find the cohesion that has been absent in the side’s showing in the majority of its outings. With forward Joby Justin having a great match against Gokulam in the previous match, East Bengal will be upbeat about its chances against its archrival.
“This match is very important for everyone, for supporters, us and also in terms of the challenge for the title. This is a match which is more about emotions. We will try to approach it with a better spirit tomorrow,” East Bengal’s Spanish coach said.
Mixed season
Bagan also has had a mixed season so far and is yet to get a settled look as coach Shankarlal Chakraborty tries to get the balance to the side. Bagan started with two successive draws. In its last outing, Bagan shared points with Chennai City FC.
“We are trying to stay relaxed. There is no pressure right now. The players understand the situation and know well where the team will go after winning or losing tomorrow,” Chakraborty said while adding that the team’s key attacker, Haitian Sony Norde will be missing the action owing to injury.
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