MARGAO
With the two coaches alumni from the Barcelona school, similar brand of football was a foregone conclusion. Possession football, pressing high up with an attacking flair came to the fore at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Thursday with FC Goa prevailing over a resilient 10-man Bengaluru FC for a 4-3 win in their Indian Super League match.
While the visitors went in with an attacking 4-3-3 formation, the home side brought back right winger, Brandon Fernandes and Portuguese defensive midfielder Bruno
Pinheiro for Manuel Arana and Chinglensana Singh to restore their opening game winning combination while continuing with a 4-2-3-1 pattern.
The first chance on either end came for FC Goa when on the eight minute, a ball lobbed from midfield by Manuel Lanzarote and received by Ferran Corominas up front was crossed into the six yards box to speedy winger Mandar Rao Desai unable to take full control of the ball and shooting wide off the mark. Five minutes on, from the other end, ‘the Blues' had their first real opportunity. A fine Eduardo Garcia free-kick from a good position met Erik Paartalu within the six-yard box whose firm header was pouched by FC Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani.
The tempo built up a minute outside the opening quarter with the home side forging ahead. Ferran Corominas' adroitness and pace came to the fore when a splitting pass from central midfielder Eduardo Bedia as he found the Spanish forward who dodged his marker Rahul Bheke to control the ball and send a stinging strike into the back of the nets leaving Bengaluru keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu with no chance in its wake.
The vociferous home fans joy was though short-lived as, four minutes later, Bengaluru restored parity. An intelligent chip from Blues' Erik Paartalu found the rival citadel off guard as Miku from the outside edge of the box on the right found room to easily beat the defender and the Gaurs keeper.
On the half-hour mark, Bengaluru came dangerously close to finding the target when Miku's cross from the right across the face of the goal found a glanced header from an attacker but it missed the mark. On the other end, Lanzarote's free kick from outside the penalty box ballooned over the horizontal. But it was not for long, with FC Goa nosing in front again at 2-1. A Lanzarote free-kick found Bruno Pinheiro in good space on right to head the ball for Corominas in front of goal who made no mistake to score his second.
The game-changing moment came in the 35th minute with BFC custodian Gurpreet Sandhu shown a straight red card for a culpable offence on thwacking an advancing Lanzarote on the back of his head. In the immediate scenario, with a man down, and an enforced substitution, Abhra Mondal took guard under the horizontal for the BFC with defender Rahul Bheke having to make his way out. Bringing upon himself to a strike from the penalty spot, Lanzarote sent the BFC reserve keeper the other way to spark wild celebrations in the stands, going in front with a two-goal buffer at 3-1.
Post resumption, despite a man down, Bengaluru were gamely measuring up to the challenge of the Gaurs with an end-to-end game still in parlance. Eleven minutes into the second session, under fans' ire goalkeeper Kattimani came up with a superlative save when he tipped over a fine strike by Bengaluru's Miku from a dangerous position.
But the ensuing corner, taken by the Blues' Eduardo Garcia found Paartalu, who pulled one back with the Venezuelan' third header reaping fruition from as many outings in the competition while leaving rival defender Narayan Das clueless. At a tick over the hour mark, the visitors came right back into the contest with their third strike to make it 3-all. Venezuelan forward Miku on right worked his ball artistry to bulge the nets with Das aground and an onrushing keeper Kattimani caught high and dry.
FC Goa though recovered immediately after to regain the lead at 4-3 with Corominas' pace and dribbles getting the rival keeper and defender Juan Antonio wrought in an entangle while coolly moving across to drill the ball into the nets. On the 90th minute, substitute Manuel Arana who came on barely eight minutes prior as the last Gaurs substitution, sprung into action on a counter but was unable to beat the rival keeper in a one-on-one situation.
But Arana was duly awarded a free kick with the errant rival keeper handling the ball outside his jurisdiction. As the game wound into added time, Arana stepped up to take the free-kick just outside the outer box with his lob saved by the crossbar and ricocheting back into play. That was the last piece of enthralling edge-of-the-seat action as the Gaurs brought the high-flying Blues to a grinding halt as they held on to the 4-3 scoreline at the long whistle.
The first chance on either end came for FC Goa when on the eight minute, a ball lobbed from midfield by Manuel Lanzarote and received by Ferran Corominas up front was crossed into the six yards box to speedy winger Mandar Rao Desai unable to take full control of the ball and shooting wide off the mark. Five minutes on, from the other end, ‘the Blues' had their first real opportunity. A fine Eduardo Garcia free-kick from a good position met Erik Paartalu within the six-yard box whose firm header was pouched by FC Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani.
The tempo built up a minute outside the opening quarter with the home side forging ahead. Ferran Corominas' adroitness and pace came to the fore when a splitting pass from central midfielder Eduardo Bedia as he found the Spanish forward who dodged his marker Rahul Bheke to control the ball and send a stinging strike into the back of the nets leaving Bengaluru keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu with no chance in its wake.
The vociferous home fans joy was though short-lived as, four minutes later, Bengaluru restored parity. An intelligent chip from Blues' Erik Paartalu found the rival citadel off guard as Miku from the outside edge of the box on the right found room to easily beat the defender and the Gaurs keeper.
On the half-hour mark, Bengaluru came dangerously close to finding the target when Miku's cross from the right across the face of the goal found a glanced header from an attacker but it missed the mark. On the other end, Lanzarote's free kick from outside the penalty box ballooned over the horizontal. But it was not for long, with FC Goa nosing in front again at 2-1. A Lanzarote free-kick found Bruno Pinheiro in good space on right to head the ball for Corominas in front of goal who made no mistake to score his second.
The game-changing moment came in the 35th minute with BFC custodian Gurpreet Sandhu shown a straight red card for a culpable offence on thwacking an advancing Lanzarote on the back of his head. In the immediate scenario, with a man down, and an enforced substitution, Abhra Mondal took guard under the horizontal for the BFC with defender Rahul Bheke having to make his way out. Bringing upon himself to a strike from the penalty spot, Lanzarote sent the BFC reserve keeper the other way to spark wild celebrations in the stands, going in front with a two-goal buffer at 3-1.
Post resumption, despite a man down, Bengaluru were gamely measuring up to the challenge of the Gaurs with an end-to-end game still in parlance. Eleven minutes into the second session, under fans' ire goalkeeper Kattimani came up with a superlative save when he tipped over a fine strike by Bengaluru's Miku from a dangerous position.
But the ensuing corner, taken by the Blues' Eduardo Garcia found Paartalu, who pulled one back with the Venezuelan' third header reaping fruition from as many outings in the competition while leaving rival defender Narayan Das clueless. At a tick over the hour mark, the visitors came right back into the contest with their third strike to make it 3-all. Venezuelan forward Miku on right worked his ball artistry to bulge the nets with Das aground and an onrushing keeper Kattimani caught high and dry.
FC Goa though recovered immediately after to regain the lead at 4-3 with Corominas' pace and dribbles getting the rival keeper and defender Juan Antonio wrought in an entangle while coolly moving across to drill the ball into the nets. On the 90th minute, substitute Manuel Arana who came on barely eight minutes prior as the last Gaurs substitution, sprung into action on a counter but was unable to beat the rival keeper in a one-on-one situation.
But Arana was duly awarded a free kick with the errant rival keeper handling the ball outside his jurisdiction. As the game wound into added time, Arana stepped up to take the free-kick just outside the outer box with his lob saved by the crossbar and ricocheting back into play. That was the last piece of enthralling edge-of-the-seat action as the Gaurs brought the high-flying Blues to a grinding halt as they held on to the 4-3 scoreline at the long whistle.
