After a loss against ATK Mohun Bagan and a stalemate against Bashundhara Kings, Bengaluru FC are buckling up for their final clash of the AFC Cup campaign.
The Blues will be going for glory against Maziya S&R, the same side which denied them the group stage honors a year ago. The Maldivian club currently stands at the bottom of the table with no points in their kitty. Although Maziya have had a poor form during the group stage, they won’t be any sort of pushovers.
Taking a brief recap of what happened in the last game, Coach Marco Pezzaiuoli and his men were quite held back until they made it to the 70 minute mark where Bengaluru FC displayed some tremendous power play. They were creating exceptional chances, propelling the likes of Jayesh Rane, Leon Augustine and Sunil Chhetri who kept on asking questions to the Bashundhara defense. Notably the team came so close to scoring that they were denied a goal by millimetres as according to the officials the ball never crossed the line. Overall the whole dying minutes saga showcased the true potential of the new look Bengaluru FC.
Team News
The incoming summer signings namely, Jayesh Rane, Bidyashagar Singh and Danish Farooq who joined BFC from ATK Mohun Bagan, TRAU and Real Kashmir respectively have certainly acclimatized themselves to the new surroundings. Youngster Roshan Naorem has found a place in the starting eleven replacing Ashique Kuruniyan who is sidelined because of an injury.
Bengaluru FC Predicted XI
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sarthak Golui, Alan Costa, Yrondu M. King, Roshan Naorem, Suresh Singh, Jayesh Rane, Danish Farooq, Bidyashagar Singh, Sunil Chhetri (C), Cleiton Silva
Author’s take
As this game will mark the end of campaign for Bengaluru FC, the team will aim to finish on a high note. Given their past record, the Blues might fancy their chances to be the better side on the pitch tonight. Few goal contributions from the striking department would just relieve the fans before heading straight into the Durand Cup which is slated to commence in the first week of September.
Match Date – 24th August 2021 (Tuesday)
Time – 21:30 IST
Venue – National Stadium, Male, Maldives
How to watch – Star Sports Network, JioTV, Disney+Hotstar
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