Bengaluru FC advanced to the semi-finals of the Indian Super League after a contentious Sunil Chhetri free-kick against the Kerala Blasters at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. The Blasters players were incensed after Chhetri's curling effort found the back of the net in the seventh minute of extra time, with the Kerala goalkeeper out of position.
When the referee allowed the goal to stand, the Blasters players stormed off the field. After a lengthy twenty-minute absence, the match was declared a win for Bengaluru. They will now face the League Shield Winners, Mumbai City FC, in a two-legged semi-final on March 7 and 12, beginning with an away trip.
After the match, Bengaluru coach Simon Grayson told Star Sports that he had attempted to persuade his Blasters counterpart not to allow his team to walk off. Despite his efforts, the Blasters ultimately decided to leave the field, leaving Grayson to reflect on the match and its outcome.
“If that happened to my team, I wouldn’t have walked off the pitch. i would have asked my players to try and score an equaliser.”
“We got the freekick. Sunil asked the referee if he can take it quickly and the referee said yeah. So he did!” said Grayson.
Before the walk-off, the Blasters had dominated possession in the first half, but were unable to breach the formidable defense of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the Bengaluru FC goal. Relying on the nimble footwork of Roy Krishna and Sivasakthi Narayanan, the Blues were content to play on the counterattack, looking to capitalize on any opportunity to strike.
The Mighty Blues have secured their place in the semifinals after a triumphant victory, and will face the ISL Shield winners Mumbai City FC in the first semifinal on 7 March. The second semifinal will be contested between the victor of the playoff between ATK Mohun Bagan and Odisha FC on Saturday and Hyderabad FC. This is sure to be an exciting matchup, as both teams battle for a spot in the finals.
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