KOLKATA: The stage was set long before the kick-off, with thousands donning black and white jerseys and waving club flags turning up and keeping the vast Salt Lake Stadium throbbing in anticipation on Saturday. Dignitaries had already filled up the VIP lounge.
Delhi FC welcomed the newly-crowned I-League champions to the ground with a guard of honour.
But in the end, the final match of the 2023-2024 season of I-League didn’t go the way the champions and the 40,000-odd home fans would have liked to, suffering a surprise 1-3 loss to Delhi FC.
Goals from Alisher Kholmurodov (7), Gwgwmsar Goyary (31) and Sergio Barboza (90+8) queered the pitch for Mohammedan Sporting’s party at the stadium. Yet, when Mirjalol Kasimov scored in the ninth minute of the stoppage time in what became the final action of the season-ender, Mohammedan Sporting erupted in joy.
It was not about the loss they would like to remember, but the team’s return to the big league was what embellished the sense of the occasion throughout the evening. It was about earning the promotion to the Indian Super League in their own right.
No wonder that the noise was the loudest when Zodingliana Ralte, Samad Ali Mallick and Joseph Adjei — all of whom had led the side in the season — hopped on to the dais to receive the trophy from AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey.
That’s the prize the black-and-white brigade has been craving since they suffered the humiliation of relegation from the 2013-2014 season of I-League. A decade later, as they lifted the trophy, they would now be looking for bigger pastures.
“We have finished one part of the journey today. We are about to begin another in the ISL with a bigger challenge and a bigger responsibility,” team manager Dipendu Biswas said.
Mohammedan Sporting would be the third team from Kolkata to join the ISL bandwagon after Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal FC.
With the I-League title already sealed following the 1-2 win at Lajong FC a week earlier, Mohammedan Sporting’s Russian coach Andrey Chernyshov rested several of his first-team players on Saturday.
But Delhi under former Mohammedan Sporting coach Yan Law turned out to be party poopers exposing the home team’s new-look defence to attacking in numbers and punished them with two quick goals.
First, an unchallenged Kholmurodov headed in Pape Gassama’s corner and 18-year-old Goyary latched on to Bhupinder Singh’s through ball to beat goalkeeper Biaka Jongte, standing in place of regular Padam Chhetri, with consummate ease.
Although Chernyshov introduced regulars like Beneston Barreto, David Hmar and Sheikh Faiaz after the break, the damage was already done and it was not enough to change the script.
The upset result came hours after Real Kashmir suffered their biggest loss at home this term, going down 1-4 to Namdhari FC.
Two Manipur teams — Neroca FC and TRAU — finished at the bottom two and were subsequently relegated.
