Nandhakumar helps East Bengal win a trophy after 12 years

BHUBANESWAR: Kolkata heavyweight East Bengal were on Sunday crowned champions of the Kalinga Super Cup, and the club sealed its place in the ACL 2 preliminary stage of the AFC 2024-25 season after emerging 3-2 winners in a thrilling final against Odisha FC, with Cleiton Silva scoring the decisive goal.

Despite both sides having multiple chances to score, neither could convert as the match ended 2-2 after regulation time and also after the end of the first half of extra-time.

Brazilian recruit Cleiton struck the winner for East Bengal in the 111th minute of the match, leaving his team in a state of frenzy and the opponents shocked.

Cleiton capitalised on a mistake from the Odisha FC goalkeeper and came up with a neat finish at a crucial juncture of the match, slotting the ball into the bottom-right corner with a left-footed shot. Odisha FC tried desperately for an equaliser in the remaining minutes but the East Bengal defence was up to the task, marking their opponents.

East Bengal deserved credit for how they went about their task after they lost Shouvik following a second yellow card of the night.

Odisha, though, also had been playing with 10 men from the 69th minute after Mourtada Fall was given the marching order following his second offence of the night.

With the win on Sunday East Bengal also ended its 12 years trophy drought.