Odisha FC players celebrate after beating Bengaluru FC 2-1 in the Super Cup final on April 25, 2023
The man with the ISL’s golden boot struck twice within a space of 15 minutes to lead Odisha FC to its greatest moment. The two goals in the opening half from Diego Mauricio gave Odisha the Super Cup on an unusually wet Tuesday night. Odisha won the final against Bengaluru FC 2-1 and thus its first trophy.
While it was the first-ever final for Odisha, it was the third of the season for Bengaluru. For Simon Grayson’s boys, it proved the second defeat in a final in as many months; they had lost the ISL final to ATK Mohun Bagan in a shootout.
Odisha’s magnificent four up front — Mauricio, Nandhakumar, Victor Rodriguez and Jerry Mawihmingthanga — were expected to cause headaches to the formidable Bengaluru defence, and they did.
The first goal came more off a shocking piece of goalkeeping from the normally dependable Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who was the player-of-the-match in the semifinal against Jamshedpur FC. He made a mess of the free-kick from Mauricio and watched in agony the ball going past the goalline.
Soon Mauricio doubled the lead for Bengaluru, as he slotted the ball home off a fine header from Jerry, who had been given an excellent cross by Rodriguez. Bengaluru began the second half with four changes and Sunil Chhetri’s goal from the penalty spot – Sivasakthi Narayanan was fouled by Aniket Jadhav – late into the match gave the team some hope. But this night belonged to the Odisha coach Clifford Miranda and his boys.
The result: Odisha FC (Diego Mauricio 23 and 38) 2 bt Bengaluru FC 1 (Sunil Chhetri 85).
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