Former East Bengal player’s hat-trick results in a hat-trick of defeat for East Bengal in ISL 2024-25

Former East Bengal player’s hat-trick results in a hat-trick of defeat for East Bengal in ISL 2024-25.

After losing the first two games of ISL, East Bengal FC played their first home game of the season, looking for their first win. But the supporters had to return sad as East Bengal’s former midfielder scored a hattrick to make it a hattrick of defeats in ISL for The Red and Golds.

The game started with the visitors attacking and testing the EB defense. The first big chance for Goa came at the 2nd minute, when Borja Herrera made a beautiful cross inside the box for Boris Singh, but the ball contacted his knee and rebounded off of Mark Zo’s chest. Boris then passed the ball to Dejan Drazic, but his shot was saved by East Bengal keeper Debjit Majumder.

After around 10 minutes, Drazic made a run with the ball. Hector Yuste failed to stop him as Dejan passed the ball to Borja and then received back from Borja in a wide open left flank. Dejan tried to make a low cross for Boris but Debjit managed to deflect the ball. However Borja was there, guarded by none of the East Bengal players. He received the ball and made no mistake to struck it in the the goal and make it 1:0 for FC Goa. After scoring he raised his arms, and decided not to celebrate his goal against his the East Bengal supporters, who are still in love with him.

Within minutes, Hijazi got a free ball in the defensive third, and instead of clearing or playing a pass right away, he took his time, but failed miserably to keep the ball when he was charged by Boris. Boris took the ball, made a minus for Borja and Borja again made no mistake to double his team’s lead. East Bengal’s fragile defense line was again broken.

In the 27th minute, Souvik Chakrabarti made a pass inside the penalty area, finding Madih Talal. Talal was fouled inside the box by FC Goa defender Dorjee Tamang and the home side was awarded a spot kick by the referee. Madih Talal took the penalty, sent the keeper the wrong way and scored the first goal of East Bengal in their home ground.

The home side got another chance when Anwar Ali played a lofted pass towards the left flank and Udanta Singh made a mistake in defending, giving the ball away in a dangerous zone. Mahesh Singh got the ball inside the box and played a pass to Cleiton Silva, ignoring unmarked Talal. Silva failed to convert the chance and the ball went wide for a goal kick for the away side. At the ending moments of the first half, Madih Talal was fouled badly by Carl McHugh and he was rightly booked for that. The teams went to the dressing rooms with the away side leading by one goal.

The second half started with East Bengal trying to control the game. But the ball was snatched away from Souvik and Borja noticed Debjit not close to the goal-line. The former Red and Gold took a shot from the centre circle and was inches away from scoring a hattrick against his former team, that too with a long range stunner. Fortunately for East Bengal, the ball was just above the crossbar.

At the 69th minute, East Bengal defense was again broken like a house of cards. Boris received a ball and ran into the penalty area to take a shot but somehow he missed that. Within a minute, Udanta got the ball and played a pass to Borja. Borja cut into the box, dribbled past his former teammate Hijazi Maher and scored another goal to complete his hattrick. Just like the other goals, he refused to celebrate and raised his arms into the sky. The supporters have had enough by then. Once the hero of the East Bengal supporters, their ‘Profesor’ started receiving “Go Back” chants.

In the 80th minute, Carl McHugh fouled East Bengal captain Cleiton Silva and was shown a second yellow. Anwar Ali received a pass from Aman at the 84th minute, and took a powerful shot. The shot was saved by Goa keeper Kattimani but David Hmar scored from the rebound to give his team a small ray of hope. But nothing more happened. The home team failed to convert any chances and time ran out of their hand. East Bengal lost another game. Including all competitions, the team now are at a five game losing streak.

The end of the game was bitter-sweet. Supporters’ favorite Carles Cuadrat, who gave East Bengal a national level trophy after 12 years, faced “Go Back” chants from the crowd, while their former player, who scored a hattrick to defeat their team was praised by the whole stadium. The supporters were sad and disappointed. They had high hopes, but it’s definitely not going how they expected it to go. It will now be much harder for Cuadrat and his men. We will have to see what the team can do, now that their back is against the wall.