ATK Mohun Bagan take title

Kolkata-based side are crowned Indian Super League champions for the first time as post-COVID normality returns to the Indian game

- JOHN DUERDEN

In the 2022-23 Indian Super League ISL) season, football on the subcontinent returned to normal after two years of lockdowns and bio-secure bubbles. Goa hosted the final in March as ATK Mohun Bagan defeated Bengaluru 4-3 in a penalty shootout to become champions after two hours of football ended 2-2. The celebrations went on long into the night for those fans who had made the trip to the west coast and for those watching back in Kolkata on the opposite side of the subcontinent.

The final of the championship play-off series the latter stages of which were dominated by penalties was a meeting between the two teams that finished third and fourth in the regular league season. Of the 11 that started out and played each other twice, the top two went straight into the semi-finals where they waited to see which of the teams that finished from third to sixth would emerge from their knockout games.

After finishing third, ATK Mohun Bagan’s play-off route was solid rather than spectacular. First came a 2-0 win over sixth-placed Odisha, followed by a semi-final against Hyderabad, the team that finished second. There were no goals in either leg, which meant penalties; a shootout that the Kolkata club won 4-3. It was good practice.