MUMBAI: It’s football! An elated Bengaluru FC skipper Sunil Chhetri termed his team’s maiden Indian Super League victory against FC Goa as a “sweet one” especially after his side had faltered in the summit clash last season against Chennaiyin FC.
Courtesy Rahul Bheke’s championship-winning header in the second extra time, Bengaluru defeated FC Goa 1-0 in an edge of a seat thriller last night here to win their maiden ISL title. Bengaluru had last year lost the final to Chennaiyin FC.
“Last year after the final, I said next year we’ll come back. Right from the ball boy to Carles (Cuadrat – the coach), everyone wanted this. We wanted to win it (the title) badly. When you lose the way we did last year, it’s sweet to win this one. Asia, we are back,” Chhetri said at the post match media conference.
Now by winning the ISL, Bengaluru FC will play in the AFC Asian Cup next year.
Chhetri also said it was “commendable” that a player like Ferran Corominas, who bagged the Golden Boot award, did not get any chance against his team on all the three occasions when the two teams clashed.
The Indian Super League (ISL) is the men’s franchise based association football league in India. It is the one among the two co-existing top tier football leagues in India along with I-League. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is officially known as the Hero Indian Super League. The competition is contested by 10 teams and will run in a span of 7 months from September to March in each year endings.
Founded on 21 October 2013 in partnership with IMG, Reliance Industries, and Star Sports, the Indian Super League was launched with the goal of growing the sport of football in India and increase its exposure in the country.

  FOOTBALL, sports