Analysis: How ruthless Bengaluru pulverised Mumbai City to seal ISL semifinal spot

Two instances from the opening 45 minutes encapsulated the first Indian Super League (ISL) knockout match between Bengaluru FC and Mumbai City FC on Saturday night.

As soon as Mumbai City kicked off from the halfway line, BFC forward Edgar Mendez was off to hunt down the ball. In the process, he clattered into Yoell van Nieff — Mumbai City’s chief orchestrator in midfield. The Dutchman was reeling from the aftereffects and required lengthy treatment before he could continue.

Again, in the final seconds of the half, in the eighth minute of added time, Suresh Singh challenged for a loose ball by flying dangerously close to Vikram Partap Singh’s shins, leaving his mark on the Mumbai City forward.

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Luckily for Mendez and Suresh, both instances escaped a caution. In between these two incidents, there were two goals, which rubberstamped Bengaluru’s dominance at half-time.

Mumbai City players and staff weren’t too pleased with some of the refereeing but the night was only about to get worse for them as its midfield of van Nieff, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Brandon Fernandes struggled to impose themselves against Bengaluru’s pressing.

BFC’s off-the-ball work rate was complemented by head coach Gerard Zaragoza’s shape. The Spaniard sprung the perfect plan to stifle Mumbai City’s midfield and wide attackers.

On paper, Bengaluru set up in a 4-3-3 formation just as it had done in the 0-2 defeat to Mumbai City, both teams’ last competitive fixture from a fortnight ago. Zaragoza would later admit that Mumbai City playing the same formation minus the injured Tiri, made it easy for his side to work out how to neutralise the opponent’s strengths.

But in the knockout, Zaragoza tweaked it to a 4-4-2 diamond, with Suresh and Vinit Venkatesh deployed on the wings to negate Mumbai City’s threat down the flanks. “[In the league game], They tried to play 2 vs 1 outside; with Vinit and Suresh, we stopped this [today],” Zaragoza explained. He called Vinit’s 55-minute outing before he was stretchered off with injury his ‘best match’ of his breakthrough campaign.

What hurt Mumbai City more was how Bengaluru used Ryan Williams, who relentlessly attacked its defensive highline. The Australian forward, who has played as a winger for the majority of the season, was instead tasked with running into the space behind the center-backs in an attacking front two.

Bengaluru exploited the space behind using Williams’ pace by playing passes both along the turf and aerially. For Bengaluru’s opener, Williams ran the channel down the left side, pulling apart Mumbai City center-backs Thaer Krouma and Mehtab Singh. Krouma’s failed clearance fell perfectly for Suresh, who slotted home a tidy finish with a late run into the box.

Despite the goal, Mumbai City continued to persist with a highline – a tactic which even surprised Williams. “I didn’t expect them to play that high, and even after 20-30 minutes, they kept the line high,” Williams later added, but not that he complained.

When Bengaluru won the ball in midfield, around the 40-minute mark, it needed just three passes before Alberto Noguera slipped in a through ball for Williams, who attacked the space left behind by Krouma. Hmingthanmawia Ralte got the slightest of touches on Williams inside the box as he slid in from behind to gift Bengaluru a penalty, which Mendez put away to make it 2-0.

Bengaluru made it a statement win when it was able to bring on Sunil Chhetri and Jorge Pereyra Diaz from the bench to expertly finish off Mumbai City.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K

Mumbai City would have looked to draw inspiration from its 3-2 comeback win over FC Goa in the semifinals last year, but any hope was snuffed out by a clinical Bengaluru, which made no mistake in punishing its errors. Just as Niko Karelis had given the ball away for the second goal, it was Chhangte’s turn in the second half. Suresh pounced on the ball around the halfway line, held off Chhangte before playing in Williams to score a third goal, which effectively killed the contest.

Suresh’s impressive work both on and off the ball would have provided a perfect riposte for his demotion from the starting XI by the national team coach, Manolo Marquez, in the uninspiring draw in the Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh, earlier this week.

Bengaluru made it a statement win when it was able to bring on Sunil Chhetri and Jorge Pereyra Diaz from the bench to expertly finish off Mumbai City. Chhetri pounced on a wandering Phurba Lachenpa before Diaz, who was making a comeback after two months, profited from another through ball from Noguera, who ran the show for Bengaluru in midfield.

For Mumbai City, this performance and the 0-5 scoreline put the final nail in its stuttering season, serving a harsh reminder of its days from the pre-City Football Group era.

For the home side, the evening at the Kanteerava Stadium was a throwback to many a magical night for Bengaluru, which has found it tough to keep up with the ‘Big Two’ of Indian football in the last few years.