ATK Mohun Bagan vs Bengaluru | AFC Cup | Preview & Prediction
Two Indian Super League teams in ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru will kick off the Group D of AFC Cup 2021 as Basundhara Kings from Bangladesh and Maziya SRC from the Maldives face each other later in the day as well.
The Blues defeated Club Eagles to set up their meeting with the Mariners on Wednesday at 4:30 pm IST at the Maldives National Football Stadium. Jayesh Rane’s 26th-minute goal was enough to power the Blues into the group stage as Bengaluru progressed despite putting in an under-par performance against Club Eagles in the playoff match.
ATK Mohun Bagan will be making their continental debut on Wednesday and the fans of the club will be excited to see a local foe as the opposition in their first Group D fixture before they face Maziya and Basundhara Kings on 21st August and 24th August respectively.
Squads
ATK Mohun Bagan:
Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh, Arindam Bhattacharja, Avilash Paul,
Defenders: Ashutosh Mehta, Pritam Kotal, Subhasish Bose, Sumit Rathi
Midfielders: Abhishek Suryavanshi, Bidyananda Singh, Carl Mchugh, Deepak Tangri, Engson Singh, Kiyan Nassiri, Lenny Rodrigues, Ricky Shabong, Sk Sahil
Forwards: David Williams, Hugo Boumous, Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Roy Krishna
Bengaluru:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Lalthuammawia Ralte, Lara Sharma, Sharon Padattil
Defenders: Ajith Kumar, Alan Costa, Ashique Kuruniyan, Biswa Darjee, Parag Shrivas, Pratik Chaudhari, Sarthak Golui, Wungngayam Muirang, Yrondu Musavu-King
Midfielders: Ajay Chhetri, Danish Farooq, Jayesh Rane, Muhammad Inayath, Namgyal Bhutia, Rohit Kumar, Suresh Wangjam
Forwards: Akashdeep Singh, Bidyashagar Singh, Cleiton Silva, Harmanpreet Singh, Leon Augustine, Naorem Roshan Singh, Sivasakthi Narayanan, Sunil Chhetri, Udanta Singh
Team News
The ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Antonio Lopez Habas has selected a strong squad with Prabir Das missing due to illness while Michael Soosairaj has not been deemed match-fit for the big occasion.
Sandesh Jhingan has joined Croatian top-flight club HNK Sibenik and would be looking forward to play in Europe rather than making his AFC Cup debut. Pronay Halder has also decided to look elsewhere for regular game time and has left the club permanently.
The new Bengaluru head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli would not be able to call up the services of Harmanpreet Singh and Edmund Lalrinidika due to various muscle issues whilst new star signing Prince Ibara has dropped out of the squad due to an infection.
Predicted XIs
ATK Mohun Bagan (3-4-1-2): Amrinder Singh, Pritam Kotal, Carl McHugh, Sumit Rathi, Ashutosh Mehta, Deepak Tangri, Lenny Rodrigues, Subhasish Bose, Hugo Boumous, Manvir Singh, Roy Krishna
Bengaluru (3-5-2): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sarthak Golui, Alan Costa, Yrondu Musavu-King, Udanta Singh, Jayesh Rane, Suresh Singh, Rohit Kumar, Ashique Kuruniyan, Cleiton Silva, Sunil Chhetri
Head to Head Record
ATK Mohun Bagan players celebrates David Williams’ goal
Expectedly, the Mariners have a better head to head record against the Blues as ATK Mohun Bagan won both their fixtures against Bengaluru in the 2020-21 ISL season. David Williams scored in the first meeting between the two clubs handing his side the 1-0 win whilst Roy Krishna and Marcelinho were the scorers in the 2-0 win in the reverse fixture.
Form Guide
ATK Mohun Bagan: L-W-D-L-D
Bengaluru: W-L-L-W-W
Prediction
ATK Mohun Bagan have a slender advantage as they have a much more settled unit with a manager who has won titles with erstwhile ATK in previous seasons. Key players Roy Krishna, Pritam Kotal, Carl McHugh, and David Williams know the setup well and would need to be at their best on Wednesday.
Bengaluru has a new manager, a new backline, but the core of the squad remains the same which could benefit the Blues in the AFC Cup group stage matches.