Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, one of the oldest clubs in Asia in the space of a calendar year, transformed subpar performances and doubt into victory and jubilation. A script, so perfectly written, that they won the I-League title in the last match before the lockdown was imposed.
I remember reading a newspaper article just before the first Calcutta Football League derby, about how rivals East Bengal were the much better side and the fact that Mohun Bagan could only pin their hopes on Spaniard Joseba Beitia if they had to get anything out of the game. In front of a full-house at the Salt Lake Stadium, the Mariners turned in a performance which gave confidence to the fans. They drew the match but created chances at will. This performance made the fans believe.
The managerial genius, that was Kibu Vicuna worked wonders with players like Joseba Beita, Fran Gonzalez, Fran Morante, Papa Diawara, Komron Tursonov and the Indian players.They created magic on the pitch. They stuck to possession based football and it was attractive and effective at the same time.
With 2nd place finishes in both the Calcutta Football League and Durand Cup, the pressure was piling on them to deliver trophies before the start of the I-League season. That hardly helped their cause though as they picked up just 1 point from their first two matches. The tables quickly turned though as Mohun Bagan trounced TRAU FC by four goals and after that, their unbeaten run continued. They have not been defeated since. A season which started with a draw in Aizawl, ended on the 10th of March with a victory against Aizawl at home to clinch the league with 4 matches left.
The credits should firstly go to the brain behind this - Kibu Vicuna. He used whatever tools he had and got the best out of them. He made them massively outperform their expectations. Then comes the star of the show : Joseba Beitia. According to me he was the best player in the league, no questions asked. He was just a level above everyone and was a joy to watch.
Fran Gonzalez, although by position a defender, top scored for the club along with striker Papa Diawara bagging 10 goals each. This statistic says it all. Their eye for goal was unparalleled. Fran, on the other hand, fixed a leaky defence as well and had tremendous impact.
Then there is Sk. Sahil. This was his debut campaign and the youngster had people talking about an India call-up. He was a revelation. The same could be said about 20-year old Nongdamba Naorem, who made the right wing position his own. VP Suhair, Shankar Roy, Ashutosh Mehta and Gurjinder Singh among others also did very well for the team.
12 matches, 3 draws and 1 loss with a goal difference of +22. Those numbers are staggering. It was a historical season, capped off with the I-League title. It was a privilege to watch them play.
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