MBSG 3-1 PFC highlights, ISL 2023-24: Mohun Bagan Super Giant begins title defence in style; Manvir, Petratos, Cummings on the scoresheet

Mohun Bagan Super Giant begins title defence with a 3-1 win against Punjab FC.

Ricky floats a cross towards Majcen, but Ashish Pradhan gets the telling touch. Kaith is not troubled and the Mariners get a goalkick.

The Mariners could not have asked for a better title defence. Apart from a brief period of pressure and a sloppy goal conceded, Juan Ferrando’s team has clearly been the better team.

Six minutes added at the end of the second-half!

MBSG booking: Abhishek becomes the latest player to get a yellow card.

PFC sub: IN- Ricky OUT- Brandon

Armando Sadiku does well to stay onside as he played a good pass over the top. He makes his way inside the Punjab box and opts for a grounded shot, but sends the ball straight to the Punjab keeper.

Sadiku shoots around the wall from an ambitious distance. Kiran had it covered as the ball goes out of play.

Boumous slips a pass to Manvir, who tries to find Sadiku with a low cross to the centre of the box. The cross is intercepted and Punjab FC concedes a corner.

MBSG subs: IN- Hnamte, Abhisekh OUT- Glan, Sahal.

Sahal sees Ashish in space on the right flank and finds him a well-measured ball. Asish has all the time and space to pick out a teammate but his cross is disappointing as it goes out of play.

Play resumes!

Play has halted momentarily as the players take a drinks break.

Krishnananda gets the ball after a sloppy pass from the MBSG players. He has time and space and goes for a shot from miles out. However, his shot is nowhere near the target.

MBSG subs: IN- Boumous, Sadiku OUT- Petratos, Cummings

Punjab FC sub: IN- Shareef, Krishnananda OUT - Prabhu, Prasanth

Talk about making an impact - Petratos sends the ball inside the box with a low cross. Manvir makes a good run to get to the ball and flick it inside the net. That was his first touch after coming on from the bench.

MBSG sub: IN- Manvir OUT- Subhasish

Ashish Pradhan heads the ball inside the net from Juan Mera’s cross. There is a moment of celebration before Pradhan saw that the flag had been raised for offside.

It is a good spell of pressure from Punjab FC. Mohun Bagan looks a bit shaky, and Punjab would do well to make full use of it. The Mariners will not be on the backfoot for long and they have a lot of options on the bench as well.

It is a sloppy backpass from Glan Martins and Luka Majcen is there to pounce on the mistake. Kaith rushed out to narrow the angle but Majcen gets the slighest of touches as the ball creeps under Kaith and into the empty net.

Asish Rai finds the net with an excellent finish but it would not count because the referee had already blown his whistle before that. Sahal had fouled Talal before Rai had taken the shot.

Madih Talal sends in a good ball inside the box. Prasanth meets the ball at the near-post and shoot first-time. He hits the side-netting.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant leads Punjab FC by 2-0 as the second-half gets underway at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan.

Goals by Jason Cummings and Dimi Petratos keeps Mohun Bagan Super Giant in a 2-0 lead against Punjab FC at the break.

Petratos pings in an excellent cross to find Yuste at the back-post. Yuste goes low but the keeper does well to make the save.

Prasanth tries to find Luka, but his pass is blocked and Punjab FC has a corner in first-half added time.

Talal takes the corner but Subhasish clears the ball without fuss.

Four minutes added at the end of the first-half!

Asish Rai tries to find Sahal at the near-post with a first-time cross, but overhits it to concede a goalkick..

Booking: Glan Martins of MBSG is the latest to see a yellow card for his challenge on Brandon.

Glan and Brandon races to get to the ball. The latter wins the race but is brought down from behind by Glan.

Booking: Talal is shown a yellow card, most likely due to dissent.

Madih Talal is brought down inside the box by Brendan Hamill. Talal wants a penalty but the flag had gone up for offside.

Cummings shows immaculate vision to thread a ball for Colaco inside the Punjab box. Chemjong rushed in to narrow Colaco’s angle but the latter backheels the ball to Petratos, who blasts the ball inside the open net.

That was incredible play and a brilliant assist for Colaco.

Punjab FC’s Nikhil Prabhu loses the ball cheaply and suddenly Mohun Bagan are on the attack. Glan Martins finds Petratos with a first-time pass, who in turn, threads a ball to Cummings who had made a run inside the box. Before Cummings could take a shot, Lhungdim puts in a great challenge to prevent that.

Cummins cuts in from the right and goes for a shot with his left. The ball takes a deflection and goes out for a corner.

Petratos delivers a good corner but Punjab keeper Chemjong collects the ball comfortably.

Juan Mera delivers a seareching cross inside the cross from a Punjab freekick. Nikhil Prabhu tries to get at the end of the cross but it is too heavy as it goes out of play.

Majority of the play is restricted to the Punjab final third as of now. The difference in quality is distinctly visible as the Mariners are dominating in all departments. The I-League champion cannot find an outlet.

Petratos has a look and pulls the trigger from distance, but his effort is nowhere near the target. He raises his hands in apology as he had teammates in support.

Majcen gets at the end of a cross from the right flank and tries to guide the ball towards goal, but he ends up shooting over the bar.

Eventually, the assistant referee raises his flag for offside.

Subhasish tries to thread a pass to Cummings from the left flank as the latter had made a good run. However, Asisi does well to intercept the pass and clear it to safety.

It will be a difficult task for Punjab now. In front of a strong Mohun Bagan crowd, the newly-promoted team needs to hold on. The next goal will be crucial.

Asish Rai finds Sahal with an excellent cutback from the right. Sahal’s touch takes the ball to Cummings, who makes no mistake in slotting the ball inside the net from point-blank range.

It is a midfield battle right now between the teams. Watch out for Punjab FC’s Juan Mera, who was voted as the best midfielder of the I-League last season.

Colaco finds Petratos with an aerial lob from the left touchline. The Australian takes down the ball with good control under pressure, but the referee blows his whistle for offside.

Mariners head coach Juan Ferrando has gone with a back three by the looks of it. Punjab FC players intently pressing in the opening minutes of the first-half.

Defending champion Mohun Bagan Super Giant kicks-off its season opener against Punjab FC at the Salt Lake Stadium.

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Mohun Bagan Starting XI: Kaith(GK), Hamill, Yuste, Anwar, Subhasish, Glan, Sahal, Cummings, Asish, Petratos, Colaco.

Punjab FC Starting XI: Chemjong(GK), Salah, Lhungdim, Asisi, Prabhu, Pradhan, Mera, Talal, Vanlalremdika, Majcen, Mohan.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant will kick off its title defence by taking on the newly promoted Punjab FC, in an Indian Super League (ISL) 10 fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

The second match of the weekend double-header is expected to see a good contest as Punjab, the I-League champion, will be looking to do something extraordinary on its debut against the defending champion and one of the most expensive teams in the tournament.

The stakes are reasonably high for Mohun Bagan which picked up some prominent Indian players in the pre-season shopping to secure a star-studded squad. This was done with the hope of becoming the first team to retain the crown.

With the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa and Anwar Ali joining Mohun Bagan, the green and maroon side won the Durand Cup and then continued its good form in the AFC Cup play-offs and the group league stage.

Read full preview HERE

ISL 2023-24: Mohun Bagan SG looks to start title defence with a win against I-League winner Punjab

The stakes are reasonably high for Mohun Bagan Super Giant, which picked up some prominent Indian players in the pre-season shopping to secure a star-studded squad.

KICK-OFF, TELECAST AND LIVE STREAMING INFO

When and where is the match kicking-off?

The Mohun Bagan Super Giant vs Punjab FC ISL 2023-24 match will kick-off at 8:00 PM IST, Thursday, September 23 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium) in Kolkata.

How can you watch the Mohun Bagan Super Giant vs Punjab FC ISL 2023-24 match in India?

The Mohun Bagan Super Giant vs Punjab FC ISL 2023-24 match will be live telecasted on the Sports18 1 Channel (TV).

The game can also be live streamed on the JioCinema app and website (online).

The game will be livestreamed on OneFootball for those watching from outside India.