East Bengal defeated Odisha FC in final of Super Cup on Sunday.© X (formerly Twitter)
Kolkata heavyweights East Bengal were on Sunday crowned champions of the Super Cup after emerging 3-2 winner in a thrilling final against Odisha FC with Cleiton Silva scoring the decisive goal in Bhubaneswar. Despite both sides having multiple chances to score, neither could convert as the match ended 2-2 after regulation time and also after the end of the first half of extra-time. Brazilian recruit Cleiton struck the winner for East Bengal in the 111th minute of the match, leaving his team in a state of frenzy and the opponents shocked.
Cleiton capitalised on a mistake from the Odisha FC goalkeeper and came up with a neat finish at a crucial juncture of the match, slotting the ball into the bottom-right corner with a left-footed shot.
Odisha FC tried desperately for an equaliser in the remaining minutes but the East Bengal defence was up to the task, marking their opponents.
East Bengal deserved credit for how they went about their task after they lost Shouvik following a second yellow card of the night.
Odisha, though, also had been playing with 10 men from the 69th minute after Mourtada Fall was given the marching order following his second offence of the night.
The victorious East Bengal team will be nominated to play in the prestigious Asian Champions League 2 preliminary stage of AFC 2023-24 season.
Trailing by a goal, Odisha FC equalised when Jahouh stepped up to take a penalty and converted it from the spot in the 98th minute.
Earlier, a penalty from Saul Crespo helped East Bengal take the lead in the 62nd minute.
In the 52nd minute, an excellent through pass from Mahesh led to a fine goal by Nandhakumar Sekar as East Bengal made it 1-1 in the second half.
This was after This was after Mauricio put Odisha FC in lead with his 39th-minute strike.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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