Miku hattrick propels Bengaluru FC to final

BHUBANESWAR: A 10-man Bengaluru FC rode on Miku’s hat-trick as they staged a remarkable comeback to beat Mohun Bagan 4-2 and book a summit clash berth in Super Cup football on Tuesday. Down a goal at the interval , Bengaluru fought back to emerge triumphant in the semi-final.

Nicolas Fedor (Miku) scored a hattrick (62nd, 65th, 89th minute) to turn things around while Sunil Chhetri (90th) came up with a sublime strike to take the game away from Bagan. All that happened after Dipanda Dicka had put Bagan in lead in the 42nd minute. Dicka did manage to reduce the margin in added time scoring another, but it was a bit too late.

Bengaluru now face East Bengal in the final slated to be played on April 20. Mohun Bagan coach Shankarlal Chakraborty placed confidence in the same starting eleven which beat Shillong Lajong FC in the quarter-finals and went for a 4-4-2 formation.

In the 42nd minute, Mohun Bagan’s Dipanda Dicka gave the Kolkata side the lead.

Akhram latched on to a Nikhil Kadam header over Harmanjot Khabra on the left of the Bengaluru box. He put in a left-footed grounder across which went past two Bengaluru defenders and Gurpreet to find Dicka, who tapped in with his left foot.

Miku got the equaliser in the 62nd minute. He then went on to complete his hat-trick to seal the game for Bengaluru. The first was a clinical finish off an Udanta cut-in from the right. The second in the 65th minute was an intelligent quickly taken free-kick, initiated outside the Bagan box by Miku himself and cheekily supported by Toni, which also saw a cool finish from the Venezuelan.