bengaluru fc
Bengaluru FCJSW Media

 Bengaluru FC made a winning start to their Indian Super League campaign on Sunday November 19. The Blues just edged past Mumbai City FC 2-0 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, with the goals coming in from Spanish midfielder Eduardo Garcia and Indian football talisman Sunil Chhetri.

Check out the half-by-half reports:

2nd half match report: BFC 2-0 MUM

Miku started the second half with the same momentum and the Venezuelan took everyone by surprise when he once again came menacingly close to score the opening goal of the match. Just a few minutes later, Lenny Rodriguez attempted a long shot which almost saw the goal there.

BFC carried on the sudden rush of momentum and Mumbai were feeling the hit. 

In the 62nd minute, it was BFC midfielder Eduardo Garcia's chance to come close to scoring via a strong header. Amrinder, at that point, was relieved that he didn't have to make a save as the ball narrowly edged past the post.

The Spaniard finally gave the home team the breakthrough they needed as a simple left-footed shot saw Amrinder completely taken off-guard. The goal came at the 67th minute of the match and it made the spectators go absolutely crazy.

Mumbai City FC steadily upped the ante thereon. Coach Alexandre Guimaraes made an attacking change, bringing on striker Rafael Assin of Spain. The move saw the away side perform some pretty good counter attacking moves and also test the reflexes of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

Amrinder, moments later, made a stunning save to deny a powerful shot from Miku. 

In the 83rd minute, an interesting incident saw Sunil Chhetri get his name on the yellow card for a possible diving inside the Mumbai box. Well, if injustice was meted to him, there is a thing called karma!

After the 90th minute, Chhetri got the final goal of the match, after a defensive howler from the away team. That was it. 2-0 remained the score until the end. Couldn't have been a better debut for BFC, could it be?

17,786 remained the attendance figure for the match.

1st half match report: Score goalless

A flurry of attacks from Bengaluru FC remained one of the highlights of the first half. BFC captain Sunil Chhetri had one of the best chances to give his team the lead in the 22th minute itself, but his shot from close range just missed the goal.The cross from Miku Fedor was, meanwhile, just pin-point out there.

Just less than a couple of minutes later, Udanta Singh, who terrorised the Mumbai City FC left flank, made a magnificent run, but his final effort on goal narrowly missed the target.

Defensively too, BFC put on a good display with the two centre-backs John Johnson and Juanan giving their head and heart out.

Following a slight lull, the BFC attacks started again in the 40th minute with Miku attempting a shot on goal for the first time. Mumbai goalie Amrinder Singh, who has previously played for BFC, had a very low save to make there.

Some crisp passes and amazing build-ups saw thereon. Udanta turned attention again with his mesmerising run down the right flank and a sumptuous through ball later saw Mumbai's lanky Brazilian defender Marcio Rosario execute a no-nonsense clearance.

Pre-match report from the stadium and the roads of Bengaluru

It was a brand new start for football fans in the city as they had never before witnessed such tight security measures ahead of a Bengaluru FC match. The six gates across the stadium were partially opened while a long queue formed outside the stadium.

Just 30 minutes to go for the start of the match, the club organisers had to repeat the guidelines to stadium entry. Frustrated fans standing outside complained on Twitter that they had been made to wait for at least an hour to redeem their online tickets from the stadium box office.

Plenty of decorations and bright lights greeted one and all inside the stadium. While the loudspeakers blared everything from Eminem to the Mission Impossible theme, the Pink Floyd classic 'Another Brick in the Wall', got everyone grooving early on.

The bright lights and the inflated balloons with the words 'Indian Super League' found a position on almost every direction of the field. Needs no mention, the bright electronic perimeter boards too replaced the old school I-League boards made of wood.

After getting their seats an hour prior to the kick-off , the West Block fans started chanting at the top of their voices: "Oh, when the Blues go marchin in!".

As the team squad of BFC entered the field for the final pre-match training session, the cheers grew louder, the larger-than-life banners were out and the blue flags got unfurled. The presence of Mumbai City FC's celebrity co-owner Ranbir Kapoor, too, brought out a lot of cheer.