The Yuva Bharati Krirangan (YBK) stadium is all set to witness yet another high -voltage Kolkata derby between Mohun Bagan SG and Emami East Bengal FC on 3th Sep (Sunday) at 4 pm in the epic final of Durand Cup 2023. Earlier these two teams played out at the group stage of the oldest India Football Cup, where East Bengal narrowly defeated Mohun Bagan SG by 1-0. It will be after 19 years long years that Durand Cup will once again witness the iconic Kolkata derby in the grand finale.
This epic final will be an opportunity for Mohun Bagan SG to take revenge from a narrow loss against East Bengal, along with Durand cup both teams will also face each other in ISL 2023-24, whose fixture will be announced later.
Rivalry between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan SG (Also called as Kolkata derby) has been over 100 years with East Bengal, representing the Bangal (Those from east) and Bagan representing the Ghotis (Those from the west). 375 times both the teams have faced each other where East Bengal is slightly ahead having won 132 times against Mohun Bagan’s 127. The remaining 116 meetings ended in a draw. Both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have clinched this Durand Cup 16 times.
Road to finals for East Bengal FC was much smoother than Mohun Bagan SG as the latter was undefeated in the group stages, winning 2 (Punjab and Mohun Bagan SG), playing out a draw (Bangladesh Army) in the last group stage match and defeating North– East United by 2-2 (3-5 pen.) in the semis, whereas Mohun Bagan SG has won 2 (Bangladesh Army and Punjab FC) and lost to East Bengal FC in the last group stage match and in the semis they defeated Goa FC by 2-1 in a tight game.
Only thing which will worry East Bengal is the poor goal difference in the group stage, as even after topping the group with 7 points still the goal difference was +2, where Mohun Bagan SG’s goal difference was +6.
East Bengal and Mohun Bagan SG were clubbed together in Group A also consisting of Bangladesh Army and Punjab FC.
