Aizawl script history!
They now become the first club from the Northeast to lift the I-League title
Shillong, April 30: In one of the biggest achievements in Indian football history, unheralded Aizawl FC on Sunday lifted the I-League crown after they held Shillong Lajong 1-1 in a tense match.
Lajong went ahead in the ninth minute through A Dipanda but Aizawl equalised in the 67th minute through W Lalnunfela as the two sides split points in a highly-anticipated match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Aizawl ended the league on 37 points while Mohun Bagan finished second on 36. They have won the ILeague title in their second season, becoming the first club from the Northeast to bag the title.
Aizawl would not have at all played in the ILeague this season as they finished eighth last year but after a few Goan sides pulled out of the country’s top-flight league, they got a lifeline to stay afloat.
Their feat is comparable to the unheralded English Premier League side Leicester which won the title in the 2015-16 season after they were on the verge of relegation the previous year.
A club whose budget is just around Rs 2 crore (Mohun Bagan spend the same amount in buying Sony Norde), it’s an achievement of enormous proportion.
The match, the Northeast derby, was though not without controversy as Aizawl played under protest after finding out that the titledeciding game would be conducted by officials from Bengal.
Aizawl protested because Kolkata side Mohun Bagan were also in title contention and playing a simultaneous match. The Northeastern club said that they have earlier requested the AIFF to appoint neutral match officials from other states.
Bagan win, but in vain
Kolkata: Ten-man Mohun Bagan brilliantly bounced back through a Darryl Duffy goal to down Chennai City FC 2-1 but the result was not enough as they had to settle for a runners-up finish for the second successive time in I-League football.
In the 32nd minute, Chennai City’s Nanda Kumar silenced the crowd when he darted the ball and scored with a gentle push, showing an immaculate presence of mind.
What followed was some missed opportunities with Balwant at the receiving end, but Mohun Bagan finally scored the equaliser in the 45+2 minute through captain Katsumi Yusa.
Substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua got the better of Debabrata Roy on the